Photo: Peregrine Fisher · Public domainCave Junction’s library is a branch of Josephine Community Library District, which lends more per resident than 60% of systems its size
Cave Junction’s library is the Illinois Valley Branch Library, a branch of Josephine Community Library District, which serves 40,924 people and lent 193K items last year.
What stands out about Illinois Valley Branch Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Cave Junction’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Cave Junction is among the top 1% of U.S. towns. Cave Junction is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs put Cave Junction near the top nationally; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups ranks highest.
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 →
14 community nonprofits are registered in Cave Junction
8.0 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 (5 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
16.0%
16.0% of Cave Junction’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.9% in the typical Oregon 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 Cave Junction’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Josephine Community Library District serves 40,924 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 40 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Josephine Community Library District system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
193K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
About 7 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, 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
Illinois Valley Branch Library, 209 W Palmer, Cave Junction.
No late fees. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Josephine Community Library District branch.
New in Cave Junction? 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 $1.76 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Cave Junction cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.7M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.7M budget.
Fine-free. No late fees on books returned late.
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 24,976 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cave Junction | Illinois Valley Branch Library fine-free | — | 25 | A+ |
| Kerby | 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.
- Digital loans not reported. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
- System-wide. Illinois Valley Branch Library is one branch of Josephine Community Library District, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 40,924 people it serves.
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 Cave Junction
Does Cave Junction have a public library?
Yes: Illinois Valley Branch Library, 209 W Palmer, is a branch of Josephine Community Library District, which serves 40,924 people. The branch is open about 25 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Josephine Community Library District fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Cave Junction’s library?
It logged 2.6 visits and lent 4.7 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Cave Junction’s civic life grade?
A+ Cave Junction is among the top 1% 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 Cave Junction.
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.