Smith, Orie J., Black and White Stock Farm Historic District · Photo: Andrew.Belair · CC BY-SA 3.0Kirksville’s library runs 12 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Adair County Public Library serves 25,314 people in and around Kirksville. Last year it lent 108K books, movies and e-books and logged 75K visits.
What stands out about Adair County Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Kirksville’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Kirksville is ahead of 85% of U.S. towns, #50 of 229 in Missouri. Kirksville is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Kirksville’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
116 community nonprofits are registered in Kirksville
6.6 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 (32 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 4 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
8.6%
8.6% of Kirksville’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 Kirksville’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Adair County Public Library serves 25,314 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 39 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Adair County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
108K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
22,983 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 1 kids’ program 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
Adair County Public Library, One Library Lane, Kirksville.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Adair County Public Library branch.
New in Kirksville? 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 $3.29 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Kirksville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $514K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.7M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $514K 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 6,012 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Adair County Public Library serves 25,314 people in and around Kirksville, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Kirksville.
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 Kirksville
Does Kirksville have a public library?
Yes. Adair County Public Library, One Library Lane, serves 25,314 people in and around Kirksville (the survey’s count) and is open about 53 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Adair 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 Kirksville’s library?
It logged 3.0 visits and lent 4.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Kirksville’s civic life grade?
A Kirksville is ahead of 85% of U.S. towns on civic life, #50 of 229 in Missouri. 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 Kirksville.
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.