Photo: Billy Hathorn at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Clarendon’s library logs 17 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Burton Memorial Library serves 3,214 people in and around Clarendon. Last year it lent 15K books, movies and e-books and logged 55K visits.
What Clarendon’s library is like
More of a place to be than a place to borrow
Visits per resident beat 99% of similar-size libraries, while borrowing beats only 30%. The building also logs about 7 Wi-Fi sessions a day. A year at the library ↓
49% of borrowing happens on a screen
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 49% of loans, more per resident than at 83% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 51%. 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; Burton Memorial Library serves 3,214 people in and around Clarendon, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Clarendon’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Clarendon is ahead of 44% of U.S. towns. Clarendon is graded on two of the three inputs. Clarendon’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($43K–$72K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 Clarendon
7.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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 (7 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
3.9%
3.9% of Clarendon’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 Clarendon’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 9 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Burton Memorial Library system. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Burton Memorial Library serves 3,214 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
49% of borrowing is digital
15K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
7,606 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
100 programs a year
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
Burton Memorial Library, 217 S Kearney, Clarendon.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Burton Memorial Library branch.
New in Clarendon? 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 $3.18 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Clarendon cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $82K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $260K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $82K 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 1,490 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Visits count everyone. Clarendon’s 55,211 visits include people from nearby towns and summer visitors; the survey has no resident share.
- System-wide. Burton Memorial Library serves 3,214 people in and around Clarendon, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Clarendon.
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 Clarendon
Does Clarendon have a public library?
Yes. Burton Memorial Library, 217 S Kearney, serves 3,214 people in and around Clarendon (the survey’s count) and is open about 32 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Burton Memorial 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 Clarendon’s library?
It logged 17.2 visits and lent 4.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Clarendon’s civic life grade?
C+ Clarendon is ahead of 44% 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 Clarendon.
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.