Photo: TulGuy · CC BY 4.0Langley’s library logs 11 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Langley Public Library serves Langley’s 650 residents. Last year it lent 12K books, movies and e-books and logged 7,124 visits.
What Langley’s library is like
More library cards than residents
4,832 cards for 650 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 ↓
Most of Langley’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 71% of loans, more per resident than at 99% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 29%. What people borrow ↓
A small-town library
Langley Public Library serves 650 residents with about 2 full-time staff, open about 38 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 ↓
People come to Langley Public Library a lot
Langley Public Library logs 11 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people, more than 92% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing is above typical too, at 5.3 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
A place to get online
Langley Public Library logs about 13 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 6 public computers. That’s 7.3 sessions per resident a year. 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 Langley’s civic life grade
Langley 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 →
71% of borrowing is digital
12K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 10K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.3 time last year, on average.
8,484 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 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Langley Public Library serves 650 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 6 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
44 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.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Langley last year.
Find it
Langley Public Library, 325 Osage, Langley.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Langley? 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 $2.95 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Langley cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $67K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $198K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $67K 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 4,832 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Langley | Langley Public Library | 18.4 | 38 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Sportmans Shores | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Ketchum | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
Loans = print + digital items borrowed in the library’s fiscal year, per person it serves. — = no library of its own, a county or regional system (its numbers cover many towns), or no report. Civic life: — = not graded (unincorporated places, whose nonprofits can’t be placed by mailing address, or towns with fewer than two of the three inputs).
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Langley 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 Langley
Does Langley have a public library?
Yes. Langley Public Library, 325 Osage, serves Langley’s 650 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 38 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Langley Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Langley’s library?
It logged 11.0 visits and lent 18.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Langley’s civic life grade?
Langley 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 Langley.
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.