Scout's Rest Ranch Headquarters · Photo: Smallbones · Public domainNorth Platte’s library logs 1.4 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
North Platte Public Library serves 33,365 people in and around North Platte. Last year it lent 170K books, movies and e-books and logged 48K visits.
What stands out about North Platte Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind North Platte’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, North Platte is ahead of 66% of U.S. towns, #32 of 55 in Nebraska. North Platte is graded on two of the three inputs. North Platte’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls 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 →
135 community nonprofits are registered in North Platte
5.9 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 (26 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.0%
7.0% of North Platte’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 North Platte’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
North Platte Public Library serves 33,365 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 61 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole North Platte Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
170K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
50,156 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 4 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
North Platte Public Library, 120 West 4th Street, North Platte.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every North Platte Public Library branch.
New in North Platte? 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 $2.52 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average North Platte cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $997K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $997K 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 8,604 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. North Platte Public Library serves 33,365 people in and around North Platte, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just North Platte.
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 North Platte
Does North Platte have a public library?
Yes. North Platte Public Library, 120 West 4th Street, serves 33,365 people in and around North Platte (the survey’s count) and is open about 54 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is North Platte Public 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 North Platte’s library?
It logged 1.4 visits and lent 5.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is North Platte’s civic life grade?
B+ North Platte is ahead of 66% of U.S. towns on civic life, #32 of 55 in Nebraska. 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 North Platte.
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.