Dillon City Library · Photo: Robstutz · CC BY-SA 3.0Dillon’s library logs 3.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Dillon Public Library serves 9,371 people in and around Dillon. Last year it lent 31K books, movies and e-books and logged 34K visits.
What Dillon’s library is like
The branch is a National Register landmark
Dillon City Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1978. Today’s library there has 3,415 square feet. The building ↓
42% of borrowing happens on a screen
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 42% of loans, more per resident than at 63% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 58%, much of it kids’ books. 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; Dillon Public Library serves 9,371 people in and around Dillon, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Dillon’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Dillon is ahead of 78% of U.S. towns, #13 of 28 in Montana. Dillon is graded on two of the three inputs. Dillon’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 →
43 community nonprofits are registered in Dillon
10.5 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (6 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.9%
6.9% of Dillon’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 Dillon’s residents live; 2022.
A National Register landmark since 1978
Dillon Public Library, 121 S Idaho Street, Dillon.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Good at every Dillon Public Library branch.
New in Dillon? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Dillon City Library
Dillon City Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Nov 14, 1978. It is significant for its education, architecture and social history at the local level. Its architecture is described as Romanesque Revival.
More about the building →Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Dillon Public Library serves 9,371 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 12 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Dillon Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Not reported for 2024: spending. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.
42% of borrowing is digital
31K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
13,271 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.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Dillon cardholder borrows.
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 3,153 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Not reported for 2024: spending. The survey filled the figure with its own estimate, so it is left out.
- System-wide. Dillon Public Library serves 9,371 people in and around Dillon, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Dillon.
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 Dillon
Does Dillon have a public library?
Yes. Dillon Public Library, 121 S Idaho Street, serves 9,371 people in and around Dillon (the survey’s count) and is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Dillon Public 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 Dillon’s library?
It logged 3.7 visits and lent 3.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Dillon’s civic life grade?
A− Dillon is ahead of 78% of U.S. towns on civic life, #13 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 Dillon.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.