Photo: FloNight (Sydney Poore) and Russell Poore · CC BY-SA 3.0Danville’s library runs 26 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Boyle County Public Library serves 30,988 people in and around Danville. Last year it lent 265K books, movies and e-books and logged 111K visits.
What Danville’s library is like
Programs draw a crowd
32,000 people came to the system’s 791 programs last year: 1 per resident, against a typical 0.3, more than at 95% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.2, higher than at 87% of similar-size libraries. It’s 35% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
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; Boyle County Public Library serves 30,988 people in and around Danville, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Danville’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Danville is ahead of 98% of U.S. towns, #1 of 126 in Kentucky. Danville is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs put Danville near the top nationally; 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 →
144 community nonprofits are registered in Danville
8.3 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (21 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
13.5%
13.5% of Danville’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.6% in the typical Kentucky 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 Danville’s residents live; 2022.
About 8 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Boyle County Public Library serves 30,988 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 71 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Boyle County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
265K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
92,128 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Boyle County Public Library, 307 West Broadway, Danville.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Boyle County Public Library branch.
New in Danville? 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 $2.11 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Danville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.1M 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 17,139 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Danville | Boyle County Public Library fine-free | — | 52 | A+ |
| Junction City | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
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.
- System-wide. Boyle County Public Library serves 30,988 people in and around Danville, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Danville.
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 Danville
Does Danville have a public library?
Yes. Boyle County Public Library, 307 West Broadway, serves 30,988 people in and around Danville (the survey’s count) and is open about 52 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Boyle County Public 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 Danville’s library?
It logged 3.6 visits and lent 8.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Danville’s civic life grade?
A+ Danville is ahead of 98% of U.S. towns on civic life, #1 of 126 in Kentucky. 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 Danville.
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.