Photo: Xnatedawgx · CC BY-SA 3.0Lame Deer’s library lends 0.5 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Woodenlegs Library serves 4,631 people in and around Lame Deer. Last year it lent 2,366 books, movies and e-books and logged 12K visits.
What Lame Deer’s library is like
Federal money pays a real share
100% of the budget comes from federal grants, and 0% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, Woodenlegs Library sits below the middle on all six per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on five. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Woodenlegs Library offered 23 programs last year, 5 per 1,000 residents against a typical 34. Kids & programs ↓
People visit, but borrow less than most
Woodenlegs Library lends 0.5 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, fewer than 96% of similar-size libraries, though visits are closer to typical. 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; Woodenlegs Library serves 4,631 people in and around Lame Deer, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Lame Deer’s civic life grade
Lame Deer isn’t graded on civic life: it’s unincorporated, so its nonprofits can’t be counted reliably (mailing addresses don’t follow its boundary) and its library is a branch of Woodenlegs Library, so there is no town figure for visits.
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 →
Volunteering in Lame Deer
Lame Deer is unincorporated, so its nonprofits aren’t counted: they file by mailing address, which doesn’t follow its boundary.
9.8%
9.8% of Lame Deer’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 Lame Deer’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Woodenlegs Library serves 4,631 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 1 item goes out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Woodenlegs Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
2,366 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
The survey has no count of children’s loans for Lame Deer’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
157 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
23 programs a year
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
Woodenlegs Library, 1 College Dr, Lame Deer.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Woodenlegs Library branch.
New in Lame Deer? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Lame Deer cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $95K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $44K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $95K 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 1,365 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lame Deer | Woodenlegs Library fine-free | — | 32 | — unincorporated |
| Muddy | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
Loans = print + digital items borrowed in the library’s fiscal year, per person it serves. — = no library of its own, a county or regional system (its numbers cover many towns), or no report. Civic life: — = not graded (unincorporated places, whose nonprofits can’t be placed by mailing address, or towns with fewer than two of the three inputs).
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Woodenlegs Library serves 4,631 people in and around Lame Deer, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Lame Deer.
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 Lame Deer
Does Lame Deer have a public library?
Yes. Woodenlegs Library, 1 College Dr, serves 4,631 people in and around Lame Deer (the survey’s count) and is open about 32 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Woodenlegs Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Lame Deer’s library?
It logged 2.7 visits and lent 0.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Lame Deer’s civic life grade?
Lame Deer isn’t graded on civic life: it’s unincorporated, so its nonprofits can’t be counted reliably (mailing addresses don’t follow its boundary) and its library is a branch of Woodenlegs Library, so there is no town figure for visits. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Lame Deer.
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.