Advance’s library logs 1.5 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Advance Community Library serves Advance’s 1,349 residents. Last year it lent 5,447 books, movies and e-books and logged 1,975 visits.
Advance’s library, in brief
More library cards than residents
1,689 cards for 1,349 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 ↓
A small-town library
Advance Community Library serves 1,349 residents with about one full-time staff. 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 ↓
Open only about 19 hours a week
Advance Community Library keeps short hours: about 19 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
Most of Advance’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 54% of loans, more per resident than at 76% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 46%. What people borrow ↓
Missouri pays a big share
20% of the budget comes from the state, and 76% 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Advance’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Advance is ahead of 27% of U.S. towns. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($45K–$75K) 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 →
3 community nonprofits are registered in Advance
2.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.3%
9.3% of Advance’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 9.3% in the typical Missouri 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 Advance’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Advance Community Library serves 1,349 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 6 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
54% of borrowing is digital
5,447 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 11K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.2 time last year, on average.
2,937 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
48 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.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Advance last year.
Find it
Advance Community Library, 305 Poplar St., Advance.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Advance? 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 $3.55 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Advance cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $24K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $84K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $24K 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 1,689 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Advance 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 Advance
Does Advance have a public library?
Yes. Advance Community Library, 305 Poplar St., serves Advance’s 1,349 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 19 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Advance 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 Advance’s library?
It logged 1.5 visits and lent 4.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Advance’s civic life grade?
C Advance is ahead of 27% 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 Advance.
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.