Photo: Jared Winkler · CC BY-SA 4.0Wilber’s library logs 7.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Dvoracek Memorial Library serves 1,931 people in and around Wilber. Last year it lent 16K books, movies and e-books and logged 15K visits.
What Wilber’s library is like
A small-town library
Dvoracek Memorial Library serves 1,931 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 35 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 ↓
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 68% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 86% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
Programs lean toward adults
79% of the 100 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 20 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Dvoracek Memorial Library holds 22,000 books and other items, but the average item went out about once every two years last year. What people borrow ↓
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 Wilber’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Wilber is ahead of 80% of U.S. towns. Wilber’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 →
19 community nonprofits are registered in Wilber
9.8 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.0%
6.0% of Wilber’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 Wilber’s residents live; 2022.
100 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Dvoracek Memorial Library serves 1,931 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 9 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
16K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 22K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.6 time last year, on average.
2,983 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Dvoracek Memorial Library, 419 West Third Street, Wilber.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Wilber? 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 $2.48 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Wilber cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $96K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $239K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $96K 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 747 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Wilber
Does Wilber have a public library?
Yes. Dvoracek Memorial Library, 419 West Third Street, serves 1,931 people in and around Wilber (the survey’s count) and is open about 35 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Dvoracek Memorial 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 Wilber’s library?
It logged 7.8 visits and lent 8.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Wilber’s civic life grade?
A− Wilber is ahead of 80% 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 Wilber.
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.