Photo: Crimsonedge34 · CC BY-SA 3.0Walters’ library logs 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Walters Public Library serves Walters’s 2,359 residents. Last year it lent 10K books, movies and e-books and logged 1,682 visits.
What Walters’s library is like
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
60% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 38%. What your card is worth ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Walters Public Library offered 0 programs last year, 0 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
A small-town library
Walters Public Library serves 2,359 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 25 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 ↓
Fewer visits than most libraries its size
Walters Public Library records 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people, below 95% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing holds up better, at 4.3 print items per resident. 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Walters’ civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Walters is ahead of 53% of U.S. towns. 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 →
9 community nonprofits are registered in Walters
4.3 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
14.3%
14.3% of Walters’ 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 Walters’ residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Walters Public Library serves 2,359 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 8 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
10K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 9,613 books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.1 time last year, on average.
What kids borrow
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Walters last year.
Find it
Walters Public Library, 202 North Broadway, Walters.
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 Walters cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $206K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $164K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $206K 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 1,725 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. Walters 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 Walters
Does Walters have a public library?
Yes. Walters Public Library, 202 North Broadway, serves Walters’ 2,359 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 25 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Walters Public Library fine-free?
It charges late fines on some overdue items (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Walters’ library?
It logged 0.7 visits and lent 4.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Walters’ civic life grade?
B− Walters is ahead of 53% 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 Walters.
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.