Photo: Steve Meirowsky (Wikipedia) (Flickr) · CC BY-SA 3.0Walton’s library logs 9.2 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Walton Community Library serves Walton’s 218 residents. Last year it lent 1,665 books, movies and e-books and logged 2,000 visits.
Walton’s library, in brief
More library cards than residents
545 cards for 218 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
Most of Walton’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 94% of loans, more per resident than at 97% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 6%. What people borrow ↓
More of a place to be than a place to borrow
Visits per resident beat 88% of similar-size libraries, while borrowing beats only 3%. Program attendance beats 94% of similar libraries. A year at the library ↓
A small-town library
Walton Community Library serves 218 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 25 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 ↓
Programs draw a crowd
758 people came to the library’s 15 programs last year: 3.5 per resident, against a typical 0.7, more than at 94% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
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 Walton’s civic life grade
Walton 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 →
94% of borrowing is digital
1,665 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 3,195 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0 time last year, on average.
1,562 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.
Walton Community Library serves 218 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.
Not reported for 2024: funding. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.
15 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
Walton Community Library, 122 Main St., Walton.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Walton? 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 $4.39 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Walton cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $7,420.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $33K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $7,420 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 545 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Not reported for 2024: funding. The survey filled the figure with its own estimate, so it is left out.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Walton Community 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 Walton
Does Walton have a public library?
Yes. Walton Community Library, 122 Main St., serves Walton’s 218 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 25 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Walton Community 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 Walton’s library?
It logged 9.2 visits and lent 7.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Walton’s civic life grade?
Walton 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 Walton.
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.