Walnut’s library logs 1.6 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Walnut Public Library serves Walnut’s 190 residents. Last year it lent 676 books, movies and e-books and logged 308 visits.
Walnut’s library, in brief
Kansas pays a big share
61% of the budget comes from the state, and 39% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Open only about 13 hours a week
Walnut Public Library keeps short hours: about 13 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
A small-town library
Walnut Public Library serves 190 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 ↓
Nearly everyone in Walnut has a card
177 cards for 190 people, or 93%. 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 Walnut’s civic life grade
Walnut 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.
Walnut Public Library serves 190 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 1 item goes out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
676 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 3,774 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.2 time last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
4 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
Walnut Public Library, 511 W. Robbins, Walnut.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Walnut? 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 $1.53 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Walnut cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $6,805.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $10K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $6,805 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 177 cardholders ÷ 12.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walnut Township | Hepler City Library | 6.2 | 16 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Walnut | Walnut Public Library | 3.6 | 13 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Walnut Grove 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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Walnut Public 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 Walnut
Does Walnut have a public library?
Yes. Walnut Public Library, 511 W. Robbins, serves Walnut’s 190 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 13 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Walnut 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 Walnut’s library?
It logged 1.6 visits and lent 3.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Walnut’s civic life grade?
Walnut 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 Walnut.
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.