Mine Creek Bridge · Photo: g.Todd Comer · CC BY-SA 4.0Potosi Township’s library logs 3.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Linn County Library District #5 serves Potosi Township’s 1,883 residents. Last year it lent 7,196 books, movies and e-books and logged 7,339 visits.
What Potosi Township’s library is like
Programs lean toward adults
56% of the 101 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 24 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
Potosi Township invests in its library
Linn County Library District #5 spends $119 per resident a year, about twice the typical $54 for a library its size. Almost all of it (95%) comes from local taxes. 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 Potosi Township’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Potosi Township is ahead of 82% of U.S. towns. Potosi Township is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups ranks highest.
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 →
9 community nonprofits are registered in Potosi Township
3.8 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: arts & culture.
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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
13.8%
13.8% of Potosi Township’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.7% in the typical Kansas 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 Potosi Township’s residents live; 2022.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Potosi Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $224K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $129K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $224K 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 898 cardholders ÷ 12.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Linn County Library District #5 serves 1,883 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.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
7,196 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 9,200 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.7 time last year, on average.
659 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
101 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 Potosi Township last year.
Find it
Linn County Library District #5, 752 Main Street, Pleasanton.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Potosi Township? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sheridan Township | Prescott City Library fine-free | 6.8 | 35 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Potosi Township | Linn County Library District #5 | 3.8 | 35 | A− |
| Valley Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Walnut Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Paris Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
Loans = print + digital items borrowed in the library’s fiscal year, per person it serves. — = no library of its own, a county or regional system (its numbers cover many towns), or no report. Civic life: — = not graded (unincorporated places, whose nonprofits can’t be placed by mailing address, or towns with fewer than two of the three inputs).
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 Potosi Township
Does Potosi Township have a public library?
Yes. Linn County Library District #5, 752 Main Street, serves Potosi Township’s 1,883 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 35 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Linn County Library District #5 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 Potosi Township’s library?
It logged 3.9 visits and lent 3.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Potosi Township’s civic life grade?
A− Potosi Township is ahead of 82% 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 Potosi Township.
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.