Photo: Billy Hathorn at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Iowa Park’s library lends 1.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Tom Burnett Memorial Library serves Iowa Park’s 6,578 residents. Last year it lent 50K books, movies and e-books and logged 11K visits.
Iowa Park’s library, in brief
Most of Iowa Park’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 75% of loans, more per resident than at 97% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 25%. What people borrow ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Tom Burnett Memorial Library holds 24,000 books and other items, but the average item went out about once every two years last year. 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.
What’s behind Iowa Park’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Iowa Park is ahead of 29% of U.S. towns, #252 of 539 in Texas. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Iowa Park’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($50K–$83K) 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 →
11 community nonprofits are registered in Iowa Park
1.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
10.4%
10.4% of Iowa Park’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 Iowa Park’s residents live; 2022.
75% of borrowing is digital
50K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 24K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.5 time last year, on average.
37,485 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Tom Burnett Memorial Library serves 6,578 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 18 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
About 2 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Iowa Park last year.
Find it
Tom Burnett Memorial Library, 400 W Alameda St., Iowa Park.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Iowa Park? 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 $4.00 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Iowa Park cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $192K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $771K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $192K 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 3,917 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Iowa Park
Does Iowa Park have a public library?
Yes. Tom Burnett Memorial Library, 400 W Alameda St., serves Iowa Park’s 6,578 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 54 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Tom Burnett 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 Iowa Park’s library?
It logged 1.7 visits and lent 7.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Iowa Park’s civic life grade?
C Iowa Park is ahead of 29% of U.S. towns on civic life, #252 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 Iowa Park.
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.