Downs Missouri Pacific Depot · Photo: Ammodramus · CC0Downs’ library logs 7.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Downs Carnegie Library serves Downs’s 790 residents. Last year it lent 5,657 books, movies and e-books and logged 5,770 visits.
Downs’s library, in brief
47% of borrowing happens on a screen
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 47% of loans, more per resident than at 89% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 53%. What people borrow ↓
A small-town library
Downs Carnegie Library serves 790 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 ↓
The library is a National Register landmark
Downs Carnegie Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1987. Today’s library there has 1,890 square feet. The building ↓
Kansas pays a big share
30% of the budget comes from the state, and 68% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Nearly everyone in Downs has a card
675 cards for 790 people, or 85%. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
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 Downs’ civic life grade
Downs 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 →
47% of borrowing is digital
5,657 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 15K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.2 time last year, on average.
2,637 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Downs Carnegie Library serves 790 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 4 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
107 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 Downs last year.
A National Register landmark since 1987
Downs Carnegie Library, 504 Morgan Ave, Downs.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Downs? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Downs Carnegie Library
Downs Carnegie Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Jun 25, 1987. It is significant for its education, architecture and social history at the local level. It was listed as part of Carnegie Libraries of Kansas TR.
The Downs Carnegie Library in Downs, Kansas is a Carnegie library which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.
More about the building →For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $3.06 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Downs cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $33K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $101K 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 675 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Downs Carnegie Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Downs
Does Downs have a public library?
Yes. Downs Carnegie Library, 504 Morgan Ave, serves Downs’ 790 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 30 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Downs Carnegie 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 Downs’ library?
It logged 7.3 visits and lent 7.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Downs’ civic life grade?
Downs 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 Downs.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.