William Higinbotham House · Photo: Ammodramus · CC0Centerville’s library logs 27 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Centerville Community Library serves 1,633 people in and around Centerville. Last year it lent 23K books, movies and e-books and logged 44K visits.
What Centerville’s library is like
More library cards than residents
1,976 cards for 1,633 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 ↓
One of the busiest library systems its size
Centerville Community Library logs 27 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people, and lends 12 print items per resident against a typical 3.9. On both counts it beats 91% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 82% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 97% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
Programs are almost all for children
85% of the 348 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 1.8 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Programs draw a crowd
6,155 people came to the system’s 348 programs last year: 3.8 per resident, against a typical 0.7, more than at 95% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
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; Centerville Community Library serves 1,633 people in and around Centerville, and its numbers cover all of them; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Centerville’s civic life grade
Centerville 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 →
Every hour the doors are open, about 9 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Centerville Community Library system. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Centerville Community Library serves 1,633 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
23K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
2,511 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 6 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
Centerville Community Library, 421 Florida, Centerville.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Centerville Community Library branch.
New in Centerville? 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 $3.29 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Centerville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $111K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $365K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $111K 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 1,976 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Visits count everyone. Centerville’s 43,700 visits include people from nearby towns and summer visitors; the survey has no resident share.
- System-wide. Centerville Community Library serves 1,633 people in and around Centerville, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Centerville.
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 Centerville
Does Centerville have a public library?
Yes. Centerville Community Library, 421 Florida, serves 1,633 people in and around Centerville (the survey’s count) and is open about 51 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Centerville Community Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Centerville’s library?
It logged 26.8 visits and lent 14.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Centerville’s civic life grade?
Centerville 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 Centerville.
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.