Graves Hotel · Photo: Mike Cline · Public domainHarlowton’s library logs 6.1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Harlowton Public Library serves 2,069 people in and around Harlowton. Last year it lent 15K books, movies and e-books and logged 13K visits.
What stands out about Harlowton Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Harlowton’s civic life grade
Harlowton 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 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Harlowton Public Library serves 2,069 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, for the whole Harlowton Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
15K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
2,606 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
Harlowton Public Library, 13 South Central Ave, Harlowton.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Good at every Harlowton Public Library branch.
New in Harlowton? 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 $2.80 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Harlowton cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $92K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $259K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $92K 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 702 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Harlowton Public Library serves 2,069 people in and around Harlowton, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Harlowton.
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 Harlowton
Does Harlowton have a public library?
Yes. Harlowton Public Library, 13 South Central Ave, serves 2,069 people in and around Harlowton (the survey’s count) and is open about 38 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Harlowton 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 Harlowton’s library?
It logged 6.1 visits and lent 7.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Harlowton’s civic life grade?
Harlowton 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 Harlowton.
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.