Milford’s library logs 0.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Webermeier Memorial Library serves Milford’s 2,211 residents. Last year it lent 7,946 books, movies and e-books and logged 2,080 visits.
What Milford’s library is like
A small-town library
Webermeier Memorial Library serves 2,211 residents with about 2 full-time staff, open about 48 hours a week. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Webermeier Memorial Library offered 18 programs last year, 8.1 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
Fewer visits than most libraries its size
Webermeier Memorial Library records 0.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people, below 92% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing holds up better, at 2.4 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Milford’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Milford is ahead of 46% of U.S. towns. Milford’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
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 →
20 community nonprofits are registered in Milford
7.8 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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.5%
7.5% of Milford’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.9% in the typical Nebraska 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 Milford’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Webermeier Memorial Library serves 2,211 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 3 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
7,946 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 11K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.5 time last year, on average.
2,715 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
18 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Milford last year.
Find it
Webermeier Memorial Library, 617 2nd Street, Milford.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Milford? 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 $1.33 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Milford cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $87K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $116K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $87K 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 1,309 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Webermeier Memorial Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Milford
Does Milford have a public library?
Yes. Webermeier Memorial Library, 617 2nd Street, serves Milford’s 2,211 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 48 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Webermeier Memorial 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 Milford’s library?
It logged 0.9 visits and lent 3.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Milford’s civic life grade?
B− Milford is ahead of 46% 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 Milford.
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.