Photo: Jon Roanhaus · CC BY-SA 4.0Belt’s library logs 2 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Belt Public Library serves 1,424 people in and around Belt. Last year it lent 2,798 books, movies and e-books and logged 2,798 visits.
What stands out about Belt Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Belt’s civic life grade
Belt isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Belt Public Library serves 1,424 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 2 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Belt Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
2,798 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
What kids borrow
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Find it
Belt Public Library, 404 Millard St., Belt.
No late fees. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Good at every Belt Public Library branch.
New in Belt? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Belt cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $54K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $43K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $54K 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 806 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Belt Public Library serves 1,424 people in and around Belt, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Belt.
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 Belt
Does Belt have a public library?
Yes. Belt Public Library, 404 Millard St., serves 1,424 people in and around Belt (the survey’s count) and is open about 30 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Belt Public Library fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Belt’s library?
It logged 2.0 visits and lent 2.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Belt’s civic life grade?
Belt isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Belt.
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.