Dr. Charles M. Wright House · Photo: Nyttend · Public domainAltamont’s library logs 4.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Altamont Public Library serves Altamont’s 2,216 residents. Last year it lent 11K books, movies and e-books and logged 11K visits.
Altamont’s library, in brief
A small-town library
Altamont Public Library serves 2,216 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 27 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 ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 13% of the people Altamont Public Library serves have a library card, against a typical 54% for its size. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Altamont Public Library offered 22 programs last year, 9.9 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Altamont Public Library holds 24,000 books and other items, but the average item went out less than once last year. What people borrow ↓
Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf
Only 7% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 69% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
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 Altamont’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Altamont is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; library visits rank highest.
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 →
9 community nonprofits are registered in Altamont
3.9 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
Community nonprofits, by kind
Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (6 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
8.7%
8.7% of Altamont’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.1% in the typical Illinois town and 7.5% nationally.
Volunteering: Social Capital Atlas (Opportunity Insights), from data by Meta Platforms, Inc.; Chetty et al., Nature 2022. ZIP-code figures, weighted by where Altamont’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Altamont Public Library serves 2,216 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.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
11K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 24K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
844 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
22 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Altamont last year.
Find it
Altamont Public Library, 121 West Washington Avenue, Altamont.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $3.13 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Altamont cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $57K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $179K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $57K budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
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 281 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Altamont Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Altamont
Does Altamont have a public library?
Yes. Altamont Public Library, 121 West Washington Avenue, serves Altamont’s 2,216 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 27 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Altamont Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Altamont’s library?
It logged 4.9 visits and lent 5.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Altamont’s civic life grade?
B+ Altamont is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns on civic life. The grade combines library visits per resident, community nonprofits per 1,000 residents and the share of adults 25–44 in volunteering groups. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Altamont.
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. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.