Photo: Ichabod · CC BY-SA 3.0Burlingame’s library logs 8.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Burlingame Community Library serves Burlingame’s 955 residents. Last year it lent 12K books, movies and e-books and logged 8,368 visits.
Burlingame’s library, in brief
A small-town library
Burlingame Community Library serves 955 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 32 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 ↓
Kansas pays a big share
24% of the budget comes from the state, and 68% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3.2 e-items per resident, against a typical 1, higher than at 88% of similar-size libraries. It’s 26% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
Kids borrow more here than almost anywhere
Children’s books and media are 50% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 86% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 19 items per child in Burlingame last year. Kids & programs ↓
A place to get online
Burlingame Community Library logs about 25 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 7 public computers. That’s 9.6 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
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 Burlingame’s civic life grade
Burlingame 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 →
Every hour the doors are open, about 7 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Burlingame Community Library serves 955 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
12K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 14K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.6 time last year, on average.
3,039 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
93 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.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Burlingame last year.
Find it
Burlingame Community Library, 122 W. Santa Fe Ave, Burlingame.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Burlingame? 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 $2.03 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Burlingame cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $102K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $206K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $102K 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 752 cardholders ÷ 12.
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 Burlingame
Does Burlingame have a public library?
Yes. Burlingame Community Library, 122 W. Santa Fe Ave, serves Burlingame’s 955 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 32 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Burlingame 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 Burlingame’s library?
It logged 8.8 visits and lent 12.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Burlingame’s civic life grade?
Burlingame 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 Burlingame.
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.