Photo: Nyttend · Public domainDanville’s library logs 5 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Danville Public Library serves Danville’s 29,204 residents. Last year it lent 70K print books and media and logged 146K visits.
What Danville’s library is like
More of a place to be than a place to borrow
Visits per resident beat 87% of similar-size libraries, while borrowing beats only 33%. The building also logs about 69 Wi-Fi sessions a day. Program attendance beats 74% of similar libraries. A year at the library ↓
The library is a National Register landmark
Danville Public Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1978. Today’s library there has 39,800 square feet. The building ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Danville Public Library holds 121,000 books and other items, but the average item went out about once every two years last year. What people borrow ↓
Danville invests in its library
Danville Public Library spends $91 per resident a year, about twice the typical $40 for a library its size. What your card is worth ↓
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.
What’s behind Danville’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Danville is ahead of 34% of U.S. towns, #473 of 754 in Illinois. Library visits hold the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($34K–$57K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
100 community nonprofits are registered in Danville
3.5 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (34 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 3 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
3.8%
3.8% of Danville’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 Danville’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 26 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 6 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Danville Public Library serves 29,204 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Books and media off the shelf
70K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
The survey has no count of children’s loans for Danville’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
Each of the 121K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.6 time last year, on average.
About 5 kids’ programs a week
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.
A National Register landmark since 1978
Danville Public Library, 319 North Vermilion Street, Danville.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Danville Public Library
Danville Public Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Nov 30, 1978. It is significant for its architecture and social history at the local level. Its architecture is described as Beaux Arts Classicism.
Danville Public Library is a library in Danville, Illinois, formed in 1883 by consolidating several existing collections. Originally it existed in rented space in buildings in downtown Danville. On November 7, 1904, a new Carnegie library opened and served for the next 91 years. The library had a Beaux-Arts design with columns flanking the front doors and a parapet wall above the entrance.
More about the building →What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Danville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.7M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.7M 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 10,691 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Danville | Danville Public Library fine-free | 2.4 | 51 | C |
| Danville Township | Danville Public Library fine-free | 2.4 | 51 | — graded with its twin city |
| Tilton | None of its own | — | — | D− |
| Blount Township | None of its own | — | — | C |
| Newell Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
Loans = print + digital items borrowed in the library’s fiscal year, per person it serves. — = no library of its own, a county or regional system (its numbers cover many towns), or no report. Civic life: — = not graded (unincorporated places, whose nonprofits can’t be placed by mailing address, or towns with fewer than two of the three inputs).
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Digital loans not reported. Illinois libraries often don’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
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 Danville
Does Danville have a public library?
Yes. Danville Public Library, 319 North Vermilion Street, serves Danville’s 29,204 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 51 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Danville Public Library fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Danville’s library?
It logged 5.0 visits and lent 2.4 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Danville’s civic life grade?
C Danville is ahead of 34% of U.S. towns on civic life, #473 of 754 in Illinois. 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 Danville.
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.