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Stevensvillemontana2005Photo: Benjamin Courteau · CC BY-SA 4.0
North Valley Public Library

Stevensville’s library lends 4.8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size

North Valley Public Library serves 11,923 people in and around Stevensville. Last year it lent 71K books, movies and e-books and logged 39K visits.

208 Main Street, Stevensville 59870 · about 52 hours a week
BCivic lifeAhead of 59% of U.S. towns. Nonprofits and volunteering.
Borrowed a year
71K
5.9 per resident
Visits a year
39K
3.2 per resident · Above typical (3.1)
Programs & events
298
about 6 a week · 4,191 attended
Cardholders
24%
2,900 cards
Open
52 hrs
a week at this branch

What stands out about North Valley Public Library

Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.

Civic life grade

What’s behind Stevensville’s civic life grade

On community nonprofits and volunteering, Stevensville is ahead of 59% of U.S. towns. Stevensville is graded on two of the three inputs. Stevensville’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.

B
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Stevensville’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 59%
FewerMore
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $45K–$75K (7,681)Ahead of 56%

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.

How sure. Graded on two inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. Stevensville is small (2,259 residents), so a few dozen organizations or visits move its per-resident figures; the volunteering share is a 2022 estimate from Facebook users aged 25–44.

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 →

Places to belong

11 community nonprofits are registered in Stevensville

5.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture20.85 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation10.66 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans20.75 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services20.99 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education10.66 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.43
Health10.33 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.16
Environment & animals10.42 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.17
Other10.66 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.47

Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.

Volunteering

6.8%

6.8% of Stevensville’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 Stevensville’s residents live; 2022.

How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 3.2 visits · typical 3.1Higher than 53%
Borrowing per resident 4.8 print items · typical 3.9Higher than 60%
Digital borrowing 1.1 e-items · typical 1.1Higher than 50%
Kids’ borrowing 2 kids’ items · typical 1.8Higher than 55%
Program attendance 0.4 attendees · typical 0.4Lower than 59%
Programs offered 25 per 1,000 residents · typical 24Higher than 53%
Cardholders 24% of residents · typical 40%Lower than 79%
Spending $38 per resident · typical $43Lower than 58%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

North Valley Public Library serves 11,923 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.

A year at the library

Every hour the doors are open, about 26 items go out

Fiscal year 2024, for the whole North Valley Public Library system. The library’s own count.

39K
visits
3.2 per resident
71K
loans, print + digital
5.9 per resident
298
programs & events
4,191 attended
2,900
library cards
24% of people served
Every open hour26items borrowed
Every week81people at a program
Every week745visits
5 staff (full-time equivalent)11 public computers
What people borrow

Mostly books and media off the shelf

71K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.

71Kloans
Books & media (adults) 48%Kids’ books & media 34%E-books, audio & streaming 19%
From your couch

13,158 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.

Kids & programs

About 3 kids’ programs a week

Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.

Schools in Stevensville →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–565
Ages 6–1171
Teens89
Adults66
All ages7
Little ones
1.3

story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.

24K
kids’ books & media borrowed
4,191
people at programs
298
programs
The building

Find it

North Valley Public Library, 208 Main Street, Stevensville.

52
hours open a week
6,540
square feet
With a card

No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Good at every North Valley Public Library branch.

New in Stevensville? The Handbook →

Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.

What your card is worth

For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.41 worth

Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Stevensville cardholder borrows.

In a month I’d use…
Books$17 each
1
Kids’ books$12 each
1
E-books & audio$15 each
0
Movies & music$4 each
0
Programs & classes$10 a program
0
Computer & Wi-Fi$3 a session
0
Your card saves you about
$348
a year at retail prices · $29 a month

Who pays for it
$38 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $456K.

Local taxes 90%State 2%Federal 3%Gifts & other 6%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $456K 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 2,900 cardholders ÷ 12.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.

  • System-wide. North Valley Public Library serves 11,923 people in and around Stevensville, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Stevensville.

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 Stevensville

Does Stevensville have a public library?

Yes. North Valley Public Library, 208 Main Street, serves 11,923 people in and around Stevensville (the survey’s count) and is open about 52 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is North Valley 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 Stevensville’s library?

It logged 3.2 visits and lent 5.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.

What is Stevensville’s civic life grade?

B Stevensville is ahead of 59% 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 Stevensville.

Town Square →
Start a conversation

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.