Photo: Tedder · CC BY 4.0Lovelock’s library logs 0.5 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Pershing County Library serves 7,464 people in and around Lovelock. Last year it lent 189K books, movies and e-books and logged 3,650 visits.
What Lovelock’s library is like
Most of the library’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 95% of loans, more per resident than at 99% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 5%. What people borrow ↓
Pershing County Library is used less than most libraries its size
Pershing County Library records 0.5 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people. Borrowing is 1.2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Pershing County Library offered 41 programs last year, 5.5 per 1,000 residents against a typical 34. Kids & programs ↓
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; Pershing County Library serves 7,464 people in and around Lovelock, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Lovelock’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Lovelock is ahead of 98% of U.S. towns. Lovelock is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs put Lovelock near the top nationally; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups 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 →
12 community nonprofits are registered in Lovelock
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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
13.7%
13.7% of Lovelock’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.0% in the typical Nevada 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 Lovelock’s residents live; 2022.
95% of borrowing is digital
189K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
180,149 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Pershing County Library serves 7,464 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 129 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Pershing County Library system. The library’s own count.
41 programs a year
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
Pershing County Library, 1125 Central Avenue, Lovelock.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Pershing County Library branch.
New in Lovelock? 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 $10.20 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Lovelock cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $281K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.9M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $281K 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 1,776 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Pershing County Library serves 7,464 people in and around Lovelock, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Lovelock.
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 Lovelock
Does Lovelock have a public library?
Yes. Pershing County Library, 1125 Central Avenue, serves 7,464 people in and around Lovelock (the survey’s count) and is open about 28 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Pershing County 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 Lovelock’s library?
It logged 0.5 visits and lent 25.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Lovelock’s civic life grade?
A+ Lovelock is ahead of 98% 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 Lovelock.
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.