Photo: Nicolas from Paris, France · CC BY-SA 2.0Grants Pass’ library lends 4.7 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Josephine Community Library District serves 40,924 people in and around Grants Pass. Last year it lent 193K print books and media and logged 107K visits.
What stands out about Josephine Community Library District
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Grants Pass’ civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Grants Pass is ahead of 90% of U.S. towns, #23 of 106 in Oregon. Grants Pass is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; 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 →
212 community nonprofits are registered in Grants Pass
5.4 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 (51 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 3 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
11.2%
11.2% of Grants Pass’ 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 Grants Pass’ 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
Josephine Community Library District, 200 NW C St., Grants Pass.
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 Grants Pass? 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 Grants Pass 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grants Pass | Josephine Community Library District fine-free | — | 39 | A |
| Redwood | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
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. Josephine Community Library District serves 40,924 people in and around Grants Pass, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Grants Pass.
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 Grants Pass
Does Grants Pass have a public library?
Yes. Josephine Community Library District, 200 NW C St., serves 40,924 people in and around Grants Pass (the survey’s count) and is open about 39 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 Grants Pass’ 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 Grants Pass’ civic life grade?
A Grants Pass is ahead of 90% of U.S. towns on civic life, #23 of 106 in Oregon. 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 Grants Pass.
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.