Photo: Billy Hathorn at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Dalhart’s library logs 1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Dallam-Hartley County Library serves 12,382 people in and around Dalhart. Last year it lent 14K books, movies and e-books and logged 12K visits.
What Dalhart’s library is like
Dallam-Hartley County Library is used less than most libraries its size
Dallam-Hartley County Library records 1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people. Borrowing is 1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $15 per resident, against a typical $43. How it compares ↓
Most programs are for young children
70% of the 142 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 1.5 a week for ages 0–5. 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; Dallam-Hartley County Library serves 12,382 people in and around Dalhart, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Dalhart’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Dalhart is ahead of 49% of U.S. towns, #138 of 539 in Texas. Dalhart is graded on two of the three inputs. Dalhart’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
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 →
42 community nonprofits are registered in Dalhart
5.3 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (11 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.0%
6.0% of Dalhart’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 Dalhart’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Dallam-Hartley County Library serves 12,382 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 Dallam-Hartley County Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
14K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
2,302 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 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
Dallam-Hartley County Library, 420 Denrock Ave, Dalhart.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Dallam-Hartley County Library branch.
New in Dalhart? 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 $1.38 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Dalhart cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $186K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $257K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $186K 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 2,730 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Dallam-Hartley County Library serves 12,382 people in and around Dalhart, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Dalhart.
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 Dalhart
Does Dalhart have a public library?
Yes. Dallam-Hartley County Library, 420 Denrock Ave, serves 12,382 people in and around Dalhart (the survey’s count) and is open about 37 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Dallam-Hartley County 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 Dalhart’s library?
It logged 1.0 visits and lent 1.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Dalhart’s civic life grade?
B− Dalhart is ahead of 49% of U.S. towns on civic life, #138 of 539 in Texas. 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 Dalhart.
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.