Photo: Sam Beebe · CC BY 2.0Deer Lodge’s library logs 4 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
William K. Kohrs Memorial Library serves 6,946 people in and around Deer Lodge. Last year it lent 23K books, movies and e-books and logged 28K visits.
What stands out about William K. Kohrs Memorial Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Deer Lodge’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Deer Lodge is ahead of 82% of U.S. towns, #12 of 28 in Montana. Deer Lodge is graded on two of the three inputs. Deer Lodge’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 →
48 community nonprofits are registered in Deer Lodge
15.9 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 (8 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.2%
7.2% of Deer Lodge’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.0% in the typical Montana 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 Deer Lodge’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
William K. Kohrs Memorial Library serves 6,946 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 10 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole William K. Kohrs Memorial Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
23K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
6,228 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
About 2 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
William K. Kohrs Memorial Library, 501 Missouri Ave, Deer Lodge.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Good at every William K. Kohrs Memorial Library branch.
New in Deer Lodge? 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 $3.07 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Deer Lodge cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $118K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $361K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $118K 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 3,950 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. William K. Kohrs Memorial Library serves 6,946 people in and around Deer Lodge, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Deer Lodge.
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 Deer Lodge
Does Deer Lodge have a public library?
Yes. William K. Kohrs Memorial Library, 501 Missouri Ave, serves 6,946 people in and around Deer Lodge (the survey’s count) and is open about 42 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is William K. Kohrs Memorial Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Deer Lodge’s library?
It logged 4.0 visits and lent 3.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Deer Lodge’s civic life grade?
A− Deer Lodge is ahead of 82% of U.S. towns on civic life, #12 of 28 in Montana. 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 Deer Lodge.
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.