Photo: Nyttend · Public domainFriendsville’s library is a branch of Ruth Enlow Library of Garrett County, which lends more per resident than 80% of systems its size
Friendsville’s library is the Friendsville Branch, a branch of Ruth Enlow Library of Garrett County, which serves 28,702 people and lent 258K items last year.
What stands out about Friendsville Branch
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Friendsville’s civic life grade
Friendsville 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 →
About 6 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.
Ruth Enlow Library of Garrett County serves 28,702 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 30 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Ruth Enlow Library of Garrett County system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
258K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
43,137 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Friendsville Branch, 315 Chestnut Street, Friendsville.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Ruth Enlow Library of Garrett County branch.
New in Friendsville? 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 $2.74 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Friendsville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.6M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.6M 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 13,262 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Friendsville Branch is one branch of Ruth Enlow Library of Garrett County, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 28,702 people it serves.
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 Friendsville
Does Friendsville have a public library?
Yes: Friendsville Branch, 315 Chestnut Street, is a branch of Ruth Enlow Library of Garrett County, which serves 28,702 people. The branch is open about 23 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Ruth Enlow Library of Garrett County 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 Friendsville’s library?
It logged 4.1 visits and lent 9.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Friendsville’s civic life grade?
Friendsville 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 Friendsville.
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.