State Highway 29 Bridge at the Colorado River · Photo: Larry D. Moore · CC BY 4.0Buchanan Dam’s library is a branch of Llano County Library System, which lends less per resident than 78% of systems its size
Buchanan Dam’s library is the Lakeshore Branch Library, a branch of Llano County Library System, which serves 22,875 people and lent 44K items last year.
What Buchanan Dam’s library is like
Few residents carry a card
Only 8% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 40% for its size. How it compares ↓
Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf
Only 6% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 94% 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; Buchanan Dam’s library is a branch of Llano County Library System, so they cover the whole system (22,875 people), not just the Buchanan Dam branch.
What’s behind Buchanan Dam’s civic life grade
Buchanan Dam isn’t graded on civic life: it’s unincorporated, so its nonprofits can’t be counted reliably (mailing addresses don’t follow its boundary) and its library is a branch of Llano County Library System, so there is no town figure for visits.
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 →
Volunteering in Buchanan Dam
Buchanan Dam is unincorporated, so its nonprofits aren’t counted: they file by mailing address, which doesn’t follow its boundary.
6.6%
6.6% of Buchanan Dam’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 5.7% in the typical Texas 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 Buchanan Dam’s residents live; 2022.
About 5 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Llano County Library System serves 22,875 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 7 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Llano County Library System system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
44K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
2,637 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Lakeshore Branch Library, 7346 Ranch Road 261, Buchanan Dam.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Llano County Library System branch.
New in Buchanan Dam? 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 $1.72 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Buchanan Dam cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $472K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $811K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $472K 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 1,899 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Lakeshore Branch Library is one branch of Llano County Library System, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 22,875 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 Buchanan Dam
Does Buchanan Dam have a public library?
Yes: Lakeshore Branch Library, 7346 Ranch Road 261, is a branch of Llano County Library System, which serves 22,875 people. The branch is open about 44 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Llano County Library System 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 Buchanan Dam’s library?
It logged 1.8 visits and lent 1.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Buchanan Dam’s civic life grade?
Buchanan Dam isn’t graded on civic life: it’s unincorporated, so its nonprofits can’t be counted reliably (mailing addresses don’t follow its boundary) and its library is a branch of Llano County Library System, so there is no town figure for visits. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Buchanan Dam.
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.