Photo: Mandy · CC BY 2.0Wallace’s library lends 13 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Wallace Public serves 925 people in and around Wallace. Last year it lent 14K books, movies and e-books and logged 4,645 visits.
What Wallace’s library is like
A small-town library
Wallace Public serves 925 residents with about 2 full-time staff, open about 33 hours a week. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
Wallace is a town of borrowers
Wallace Public lends 13 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries serving under 2,500 people, more than 92% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
The library is a National Register landmark
Wallace Carnegie Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1981. Today’s library there has 2,052 square feet. The building ↓
This summary is written from the numbers on this page. Numbers are the library’s own report to the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Wallace’s civic life grade
Wallace isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
Civic life counts registered nonprofits, library visits and online volunteering groups, so it can miss civic life that runs through congregations, mutual aid or neighbors looking out for each other.
Library visits: IMLS Public Libraries Survey, FY2024. Nonprofits: IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File, October 2026. Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. How TownRatings grades civic life →
Mostly books and media off the shelf
14K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 14K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.8 time last year, on average.
1,798 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Wallace Public serves 925 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 8 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
About 1 kids’ program a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
A National Register landmark since 1981
Wallace Public, 415 River St., Wallace.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Wallace? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Wallace Carnegie Library
Wallace Carnegie Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Feb 3, 1981. It is significant for its architecture at the local level. Its architecture is described as English Renaissance.
The Wallace Carnegie Library, in Wallace, Idaho, was built in 1911. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981. It is located at 415 River St. adjacent to a small city park. It is a one-story brick Carnegie library built upon a high basement in English Renaissance Revival style. Its entrance is through a portico with Ionic columns at the top of a flight of concrete steps.
More about the building →For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $3.41 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Wallace cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $72K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $244K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $72K budget.
Fine-free. No late fees on books returned late.
Retail prices are typical, rounded down: a new book $17, a kids’ book $12, an e-book or e-audiobook $15, a movie rental $4, a class or program $10, a computer or Wi-Fi session $3. The average cardholder’s month = the library’s yearly loans, attendance and Wi-Fi sessions ÷ its 542 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average; libraries are compared with others serving about as many people. How TownRatings uses library figures →
Questions about the library and civic life in Wallace
Does Wallace have a public library?
Yes. Wallace Public, 415 River St., serves 925 people in and around Wallace (the survey’s count) and is open about 33 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Wallace Public fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Wallace’s library?
It logged 5.0 visits and lent 14.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Wallace’s civic life grade?
Wallace isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Wallace.
Libraries: Institute of Museum and Library Services, Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024. Each library reports its own numbers. Distances are straight-line from the town center. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.