Photo: Nyttend · Public domainMount Vernon’s library logs 1.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Rockcastle County Public Library serves 16,190 people in and around Mount Vernon. Last year it lent 38K books, movies and e-books and logged 20K visits.
What Mount Vernon’s library is like
Rockcastle County Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Rockcastle County Public Library records 1.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people. Borrowing is 1.5 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Rockcastle County Public Library offered 150 programs last year, 9.3 per 1,000 residents against a typical 24. 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; Rockcastle County Public Library serves 16,190 people in and around Mount Vernon, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Mount Vernon’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Mount Vernon is ahead of 9% of U.S. towns. Mount Vernon is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Mount Vernon’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($29K–$48K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 Mount Vernon
3.0 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.
3.5%
3.5% of Mount Vernon’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 Mount Vernon’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Rockcastle County Public Library serves 16,190 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 10 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Rockcastle County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
38K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
14,270 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
Rockcastle County Public Library, 60 Ford Drive, Mount Vernon.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Rockcastle County Public Library branch.
New in Mount Vernon? 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 $1.39 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Mount Vernon cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $439K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $610K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $439K 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 9,689 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Rockcastle County Public Library serves 16,190 people in and around Mount Vernon, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Mount Vernon.
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 Mount Vernon
Does Mount Vernon have a public library?
Yes. Rockcastle County Public Library, 60 Ford Drive, serves 16,190 people in and around Mount Vernon (the survey’s count) and is open about 47 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Rockcastle 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 Mount Vernon’s library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 2.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Mount Vernon’s civic life grade?
D Mount Vernon is ahead of 9% 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 Mount Vernon.
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.