Photo: Nyttend · Public domainGolconda’s library logs 5.5 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Golconda Public Library serves Golconda’s 630 residents. Last year it lent 3,460 print books and media and logged 3,450 visits.
What Golconda’s library is like
A small-town library
Golconda Public Library serves 630 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 30 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 ↓
Federal money pays a real share
25% of the budget comes from federal grants, and 52% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Golconda invests in its library
Golconda Public Library spends $116 per resident a year, about twice the typical $54 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Golconda’s civic life grade
Golconda 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 →
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Golconda cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $73K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $61K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $73K 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 167 cardholders ÷ 12.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 6 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Golconda Public Library serves 630 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 2 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
3,460 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 Golconda’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
Each of the 18K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.2 time last year, on average.
21 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
Find it
Golconda Public Library, 126 West Main Street, Golconda.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
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 Golconda
Does Golconda have a public library?
Yes. Golconda Public Library, 126 West Main Street, serves Golconda’s 630 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 30 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Golconda Public Library fine-free?
It charges late fines on some overdue items (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Golconda’s library?
It logged 5.5 visits and lent 5.5 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Golconda’s civic life grade?
Golconda 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 Golconda.
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.