Photo: Bedford at en.wikipedia · Public domainMorgantown’s library logs 1.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Butler County Public Library serves 12,375 people in and around Morgantown. Last year it lent 31K books, movies and e-books and logged 18K visits.
The short version on Morgantown’s library
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, Butler County Public Library sits below the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on four. How it compares ↓
Kentucky pays a big share
20% of the budget comes from the state, and 77% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. 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; Butler County Public Library serves 12,375 people in and around Morgantown, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Morgantown’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Morgantown is ahead of 64% of U.S. towns, #29 of 126 in Kentucky. Morgantown is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Morgantown’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
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 →
7 community nonprofits are registered in Morgantown
2.8 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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
11.8%
11.8% of Morgantown’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 Morgantown’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Butler County Public Library serves 12,375 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 11 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Butler County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
31K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
9,229 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 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.
Find it
Butler County Public Library, 116 West Ohio Street, Morgantown.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Butler County Public Library branch.
New in Morgantown? 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 $1.73 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Morgantown cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $324K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $561K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $324K 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 4,422 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Butler County Public Library serves 12,375 people in and around Morgantown, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Morgantown.
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 Morgantown
Does Morgantown have a public library?
Yes. Butler County Public Library, 116 West Ohio Street, serves 12,375 people in and around Morgantown (the survey’s count) and is open about 47 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Butler 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 Morgantown’s library?
It logged 1.4 visits and lent 2.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Morgantown’s civic life grade?
B Morgantown is ahead of 64% of U.S. towns on civic life, #29 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 Morgantown.
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.