Photo: Drowzy at English Wikipedia · Public domainPiedmont’s library lends 5.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Piedmont Public Library serves Piedmont’s 1,897 residents. Last year it lent 11K books, movies and e-books and logged 9,367 visits.
Piedmont’s library, in brief
More library cards than residents
3,375 cards for 1,897 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 ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Piedmont Public Library offered 7 programs last year, 3.7 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
A small-town library
Piedmont Public Library serves 1,897 residents with about 2 full-time staff, open about 40 hours a week. 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 ↓
Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf
Only 0% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 99% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
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 Piedmont’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Piedmont is ahead of 58% of U.S. towns. Piedmont is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Piedmont’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
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 →
9 community nonprofits are registered in Piedmont
3.0 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.
9.9%
9.9% of Piedmont’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 Piedmont’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Piedmont Public Library serves 1,897 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 5 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
11K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 18K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.6 time last year, on average.
7 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Piedmont last year.
Find it
Piedmont Public Library, 118 W Green St., Piedmont.
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 $2.36 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Piedmont cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $75K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $176K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $75K 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 3,375 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Piedmont
Does Piedmont have a public library?
Yes. Piedmont Public Library, 118 W Green St., serves Piedmont’s 1,897 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Piedmont Public Library fine-free?
It charges late fines on some overdue items (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Piedmont’s library?
It logged 4.9 visits and lent 5.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Piedmont’s civic life grade?
B Piedmont is ahead of 58% 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 Piedmont.
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.