Soulsby Service Station · Photo: Marcin Wichary from San Francisco, U.S.A. · CC BY 2.0Mount Olive’s library logs 2 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Mount Olive Public Library serves Mount Olive’s 2,015 residents. Last year it lent 2,923 print books and media and logged 3,942 visits.
What Mount Olive’s library is like
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving under 2,500 people, Mount Olive Public Library sits below the middle on all five per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on five. How it compares ↓
A small-town library
Mount Olive Public Library serves 2,015 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 28 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 20% of the people Mount Olive Public Library serves have a library card, against a typical 54% for its size. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Mount Olive Public Library offered 23 programs last year, 11 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
Runs on less money than most
Mount Olive Public Library spends $16 per resident, less than 94% of similar-size libraries (typical: $54). 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 Mount Olive’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Mount Olive is ahead of 68% of U.S. towns. Mount Olive’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
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 →
12 community nonprofits are registered in Mount Olive
6.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
10.0%
10.0% of Mount Olive’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 Mount Olive’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 6 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Mount Olive Public Library serves 2,015 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
2,923 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 Mount Olive’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
Each of the 10K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.3 time last year, on average.
23 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.
Find it
Mount Olive Public Library, 100 North Plum Street, Mount Olive.
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 $1.74 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Mount Olive cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $33K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $57K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $33K 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 395 cardholders ÷ 12.
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 Mount Olive
Does Mount Olive have a public library?
Yes. Mount Olive Public Library, 100 North Plum Street, serves Mount Olive’s 2,015 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 28 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Mount Olive Public Library fine-free?
It charges late fines on some overdue items (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Mount Olive’s library?
It logged 2.0 visits and lent 1.5 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Mount Olive’s civic life grade?
B+ Mount Olive is ahead of 68% 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 Mount Olive.
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.