Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 4.0Malta’s library logs 0.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Phillips County Library serves 4,217 people in and around Malta. Last year it lent 10K books, movies and e-books and logged 3,692 visits.
What Malta’s library is like
Phillips County Library is used less than most libraries its size
Phillips County Library records 0.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people. Borrowing is 1.2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8. How it compares ↓
The branch is a National Register landmark
Phillips County Carnegie Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1980. Today’s library there has 1,090 square feet. The building ↓
Most of the library’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 50% of loans. Print still makes up 50%. 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; Phillips County Library serves 4,217 people in and around Malta, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Malta’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Malta is among the top 1% of U.S. towns. Malta is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs put Malta near the top nationally; Malta’s count of community nonprofits ranks highest.
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 →
46 community nonprofits are registered in Malta
21.9 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 (6 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
12.8%
12.8% of Malta’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 Malta’s residents live; 2022.
A National Register landmark since 1980
Phillips County Library, 10 South 4th St. East, Malta.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Good at every Phillips County Library branch.
New in Malta? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Phillips County Carnegie Library
Phillips County Carnegie Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Aug 27, 1980. It is significant for its social history at the local level.
Phillips County Carnegie Library is a Carnegie library on the National Register of Historic Places located in Malta, Montana. It was added to the Register on August 27, 1980. For a time, it was used as a museum interpreting local history. It was built of tan brick on a stone foundation in 1917. It is 34 by 62 feet (10 m × 19 m) in plan, and has the words "Carnegie Library" carved in sandstone above its doorway.
More about the building →Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Phillips County Library serves 4,217 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 4 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Phillips County Library system. The library’s own count.
50% of borrowing is digital
10K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
5,124 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
40 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.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.29 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Malta cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $121K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $156K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $121K 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 1,812 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Phillips County Library serves 4,217 people in and around Malta, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Malta.
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 Malta
Does Malta have a public library?
Yes. Phillips County Library, 10 South 4th St. East, serves 4,217 people in and around Malta (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Phillips 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 Malta’s library?
It logged 0.9 visits and lent 2.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Malta’s civic life grade?
A+ Malta is among the top 1% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Malta.
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.