Way Side Stock Farm · Photo: Ammodramus · CC0Stella’s library logs 0.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Stella Community Library serves Stella’s 145 residents. Last year it lent 55 books, movies and e-books and logged 50 visits.
Stella’s library, in brief
Stella Community Library is used less than most libraries its size
Stella Community Library records 0.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Borrowing is 0.4 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $33 per resident, against a typical $54. How it compares ↓
More library cards than residents
145 cards for 145 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
A small-town library
Stella Community Library serves 145 residents with about one full-time staff. 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 ↓
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 Stella’s civic life grade
Stella isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Stella Community Library serves 145 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
A year at Stella Community Library
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
55 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 1,420 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0 time last year, on average.
10 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
Find it
Stella Community Library, 207 3rd Street, Stella.
No late fees. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Stella? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Stella cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $4,765.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2,130 worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $4,765 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 145 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. Stella Community 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 Stella
Does Stella have a public library?
Yes. Stella Community Library, 207 3rd Street, serves Stella’s 145 residents (the survey’s count).
Is Stella Community Library fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Stella’s library?
It logged 0.3 visits and lent 0.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Stella’s civic life grade?
Stella isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Stella.
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.