Photo: Smile25 · CC BY-SA 3.0Carnegie’s library runs 2.9 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60 for libraries its size
Carnegie Public Library serves Carnegie’s 1,373 residents. Last year it lent 1,836 books, movies and e-books and logged 5,503 visits.
What Carnegie’s library is like
Few programs for a library this size
Carnegie Public Library offered 4 programs last year, 2.9 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
A small-town library
Carnegie Public Library serves 1,373 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 30 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 ↓
Nearly everyone in Carnegie has a card
1,308 cards for 1,373 people, or 95%. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. 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 Carnegie’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Carnegie is ahead of 64% of U.S. towns. Carnegie’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 →
9 community nonprofits are registered in Carnegie
5.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.9%
6.9% of Carnegie’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 9.7% in the typical Oklahoma 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 Carnegie’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.
Carnegie Public Library serves 1,373 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 1 item goes out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
1,836 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 13K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.1 time last year, on average.
4 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 Carnegie last year.
Find it
Carnegie Public Library, 6 E Main, Carnegie.
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 Carnegie cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $33K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $32K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $33K 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 1,308 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. Carnegie Public 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 Carnegie
Does Carnegie have a public library?
Yes. Carnegie Public Library, 6 E Main, serves Carnegie’s 1,373 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 30 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Carnegie Public Library fine-free?
It charges late fines on some overdue items (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Carnegie’s library?
It logged 4.0 visits and lent 1.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Carnegie’s civic life grade?
B Carnegie is ahead of 64% 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 Carnegie.
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.