Photo: Jeremy Mikkola from Boone, NC · CC BY 2.0Boone’s library is a branch of Appalachian Regional Library, which lends less per resident than 55% of systems its size
Boone’s library is the Watauga County Public Library, a branch of Appalachian Regional Library, which serves 147,653 people and lent 530K items last year.
What stands out about Watauga County Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Boone’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Boone is ahead of 83% of U.S. towns, #12 of 234 in North Carolina. Boone is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Boone’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 →
175 community nonprofits are registered in Boone
8.7 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 (42 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 12 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.7%
7.7% of Boone’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 5.2% in the typical North Carolina 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 Boone’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Appalachian Regional Library serves 147,653 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 48 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Appalachian Regional Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
530K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
92,967 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 16 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
Watauga County Public Library, 140 Queen St., Boone.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Appalachian Regional Library branch.
New in Boone? 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 $2.91 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Boone cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $8.8M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3M budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
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 56,346 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Watauga County Public Library is one branch of Appalachian Regional Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 147,653 people it serves.
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 Boone
Does Boone have a public library?
Yes: Watauga County Public Library, 140 Queen St., is a branch of Appalachian Regional Library, which serves 147,653 people. The branch is open about 54 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Appalachian Regional Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Boone’s library?
It logged 2.0 visits and lent 3.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Boone’s civic life grade?
A− Boone is ahead of 83% of U.S. towns on civic life, #12 of 234 in North Carolina. 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 Boone.
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.