Moberly Junior High School · Photo: TheCatalyst31 · CC0Moberly’s library logs 6 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Little Dixie Regional Libraries serves 31,406 people in and around Moberly. Last year it lent 140K books, movies and e-books and logged 190K visits.
What stands out about Little Dixie Regional Libraries
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Moberly’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Moberly is ahead of 87% of U.S. towns, #45 of 229 in Missouri. Moberly is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Moberly’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 →
78 community nonprofits are registered in Moberly
5.8 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 (25 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
9.6%
9.6% of Moberly’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 Moberly’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 17 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Little Dixie Regional Libraries system. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Little Dixie Regional Libraries serves 31,406 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
140K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
34,500 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 5 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
Little Dixie Regional Libraries, 111 N Fourth St., Moberly.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Little Dixie Regional Libraries branch.
New in Moberly? 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 $1.50 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Moberly cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.6M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.6M 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 15,575 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Little Dixie Regional Libraries serves 31,406 people in and around Moberly, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Moberly.
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 Moberly
Does Moberly have a public library?
Yes. Little Dixie Regional Libraries, 111 N Fourth St., serves 31,406 people in and around Moberly (the survey’s count) and is open about 58 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Little Dixie Regional Libraries 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 Moberly’s library?
It logged 6.0 visits and lent 4.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Moberly’s civic life grade?
A Moberly is ahead of 87% of U.S. towns on civic life, #45 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 Moberly.
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.