Photo: Stugarrett · CC BY-SA 4.0Nowata’s library runs 1.4 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Nowata City-County Library serves 3,551 people in and around Nowata. Last year it lent 8,770 books, movies and e-books and logged 4,428 visits.
What Nowata’s library is like
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, Nowata City-County Library sits below the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on seven. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Nowata City-County Library offered 5 programs last year, 1.4 per 1,000 residents against a typical 34. Kids & programs ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
46% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 54%. What your card is worth ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 17% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 42% for its size. How it compares ↓
Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf
Only 0% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 99% of similar-size libraries. 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; Nowata City-County Library serves 3,551 people in and around Nowata, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Nowata’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Nowata is ahead of 74% of U.S. towns, #40 of 128 in Oklahoma. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull 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 →
28 community nonprofits are registered in Nowata
7.9 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 (18 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.
14.5%
14.5% of Nowata’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 Nowata’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Nowata City-County Library serves 3,551 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 6 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Nowata City-County Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
8,770 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
5 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
Find it
Nowata City-County Library, 224 South Pine, Nowata.
Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Nowata City-County Library branch.
New in Nowata? 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 $1.19 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Nowata cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $118K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $141K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $118K 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 609 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Nowata City-County Library serves 3,551 people in and around Nowata, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Nowata.
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 Nowata
Does Nowata have a public library?
Yes. Nowata City-County Library, 224 South Pine, serves 3,551 people in and around Nowata (the survey’s count) and is open about 29 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Nowata City-County Library fine-free?
It charges late fines on some overdue items (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Nowata’s library?
It logged 1.2 visits and lent 2.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Nowata’s civic life grade?
B+ Nowata is ahead of 74% of U.S. towns on civic life, #40 of 128 in Oklahoma. 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 Nowata.
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.