Bern’s library lends 5.2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Bern Community Library serves 384 people in and around Bern. Last year it lent 2,043 books, movies and e-books and logged 1,488 visits.
Bern’s library, in brief
A small-town library
Bern Community Library serves 384 residents with about one full-time staff. 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 ↓
Open only about 20 hours a week
Bern Community Library keeps short hours: about 20 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
Kansas pays a big share
31% of the budget comes from the state, and 67% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Bern Community Library serves more than Bern
The library’s service area covers 384 people in and around Bern, so its per-resident numbers are measured against that wider population. How it compares ↓
Bern invests in its library
Bern Community Library spends $132 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 Bern’s civic life grade
Bern 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 Bern cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $51K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $32K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $51K 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 200 cardholders ÷ 12.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Bern Community Library serves 384 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.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
2,043 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 13K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.2 time last year, on average.
29 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
19 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
Bern Community Library, 405 Main St., Bern.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Bern? The Handbook →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.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Bern
Does Bern have a public library?
Yes. Bern Community Library, 405 Main St., serves 384 people in and around Bern (the survey’s count) and is open about 20 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Bern Community Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Bern’s library?
It logged 3.9 visits and lent 5.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Bern’s civic life grade?
Bern 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 Bern.
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.