Photo: Claude W. Stimson · Public domainHot Springs’ library logs 1.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Preston Hot Springs Town-County Library serves 2,075 people in and around Hot Springs. Last year it lent 5,140 books, movies and e-books and logged 3,779 visits.
What stands out about Preston Hot Springs Town-County Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Hot Springs’ civic life grade
Hot Springs 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.
Preston Hot Springs Town-County Library serves 2,075 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 4 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Preston Hot Springs Town-County Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
5,140 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
244 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
147 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
Preston Hot Springs Town-County Library, 203 East Main, Hot Springs.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Good at every Preston Hot Springs Town-County Library branch.
New in Hot Springs? 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 $1.37 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Hot Springs cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $66K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $90K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $66K 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 859 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Preston Hot Springs Town-County Library serves 2,075 people in and around Hot Springs, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Hot Springs.
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 Hot Springs
Does Hot Springs have a public library?
Yes. Preston Hot Springs Town-County Library, 203 East Main, serves 2,075 people in and around Hot Springs (the survey’s count) and is open about 26 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Preston Hot Springs Town-County 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 Hot Springs’ library?
It logged 1.8 visits and lent 2.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Hot Springs’ civic life grade?
Hot Springs 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 Hot Springs.
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.