Salisbury Square Historic District · Photo: Jim Roberts · CC BY-SA 4.0Salisbury’s library runs 3.8 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60 for libraries its size
Dulany Memorial Library serves Salisbury’s 1,563 residents. Last year it lent 9,708 books, movies and e-books and logged 5,790 visits.
The short version on Salisbury’s library
More library cards than residents
1,865 cards for 1,563 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
Dulany Memorial Library offered 6 programs last year, 3.8 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
A small-town library
Dulany Memorial Library serves 1,563 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 26 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 ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
27% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 66%. 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 Salisbury’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Salisbury is ahead of 75% of U.S. towns. Salisbury’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups 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 →
14 community nonprofits are registered in Salisbury
9.1 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 (7 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.5%
7.5% of Salisbury’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 Salisbury’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Dulany Memorial Library serves 1,563 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 7 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
9,708 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 14K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.5 time last year, on average.
2,553 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
6 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 Salisbury last year.
Find it
Dulany Memorial Library, 501 S Broadway, Salisbury.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Salisbury? 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 $3.37 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Salisbury cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $48K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $163K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $48K 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 1,865 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. Dulany Memorial 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 Salisbury
Does Salisbury have a public library?
Yes. Dulany Memorial Library, 501 S Broadway, serves Salisbury’s 1,563 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 26 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Dulany Memorial 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 Salisbury’s library?
It logged 3.7 visits and lent 6.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Salisbury’s civic life grade?
B+ Salisbury is ahead of 75% 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 Salisbury.
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.