Russell, Charlie and Nancy, Honeymoon Cabin · Photo: SOdEeP mUsIc · CC BY-SA 4.0Cascade’s library lends 14 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Wedsworth Memorial Library serves 1,514 people in and around Cascade. Last year it lent 24K books, movies and e-books and logged 5,403 visits.
The short version on Cascade’s library
A system of heavy borrowers
Wedsworth Memorial Library lends 14 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries serving under 2,500 people, more than 94% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Wedsworth Memorial Library offered 13 programs last year, 8.6 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
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; Wedsworth Memorial Library serves 1,514 people in and around Cascade, and its numbers cover all of them; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Cascade’s civic life grade
Cascade 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 →
Mostly books and media off the shelf
24K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
The survey has no count of children’s loans for Cascade’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
2,277 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Wedsworth Memorial Library serves 1,514 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 20 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Wedsworth Memorial Library system. The library’s own count.
13 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
Find it
Wedsworth Memorial Library, 13 North Front Street, Cascade.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Good at every Wedsworth Memorial Library branch.
New in Cascade? 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 $12.07 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Cascade cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $59K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $716K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $59K 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 689 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Wedsworth Memorial Library serves 1,514 people in and around Cascade, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Cascade.
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 Cascade
Does Cascade have a public library?
Yes. Wedsworth Memorial Library, 13 North Front Street, serves 1,514 people in and around Cascade (the survey’s count) and is open about 23 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Wedsworth Memorial Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Cascade’s library?
It logged 3.6 visits and lent 15.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Cascade’s civic life grade?
Cascade 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 Cascade.
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.