Photo: Public domain · Public domainVan Buren’s library logs 1.5 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Van Buren Public Library serves 1,836 people in and around Van Buren. Last year it lent 7,290 books, movies and e-books and logged 2,763 visits.
What stands out about Van Buren Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Van Buren’s civic life grade
Van Buren 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 →
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Van Buren Public Library serves 1,836 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 5 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Van Buren Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
7,290 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
1,621 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
33 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, 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
Van Buren Public Library, 115 South First Street, Van Buren.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Van Buren Public Library branch.
New in Van Buren? The Handbook →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 $1.10 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Van Buren cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $110K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $121K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $110K 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 452 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Van Buren Public Library serves 1,836 people in and around Van Buren, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Van Buren.
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 Van Buren
Does Van Buren have a public library?
Yes. Van Buren Public Library, 115 South First Street, serves 1,836 people in and around Van Buren (the survey’s count) and is open about 31 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Van Buren 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 Van Buren’s library?
It logged 1.5 visits and lent 4.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Van Buren’s civic life grade?
Van Buren 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 Van Buren.
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.