Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided · Public domainMountain View’s library logs 4.5 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Mt View Addie Davis Memorial Library serves Mountain View’s 735 residents. Last year it lent 3,540 books, movies and e-books and logged 3,322 visits.
The short version on Mountain View’s library
More library cards than residents
964 cards for 735 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 ↓
Open only about 15 hours a week
Mt View Addie Davis Memorial Library keeps short hours: about 15 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
A small-town library
Mt View Addie Davis Memorial Library serves 735 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 ↓
Federal money pays a real share
21% of the budget comes from federal grants, and 53% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
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 Mountain View’s civic life grade
Mountain View 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 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Mt View Addie Davis Memorial Library serves 735 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 5 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
3,540 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 4,372 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.8 time last year, on average.
17 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.
Find it
Mt View Addie Davis Memorial Library, 301 N 4th, Mtn. View.
Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Mountain View? 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 $3.23 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Mountain View cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $22K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $70K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $22K 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 964 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 Mountain View
Does Mountain View have a public library?
Yes. Mt View Addie Davis Memorial Library, 301 N 4th, serves Mountain View’s 735 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 15 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Mt View Addie Davis Memorial Library fine-free?
It charges late fines on some overdue items (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Mountain View’s library?
It logged 4.5 visits and lent 4.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Mountain View’s civic life grade?
Mountain View 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 Mountain View.
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.