Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0Mineral Wells’ library lends 1.1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Boyce Ditto Public Library serves 29,923 people in and around Mineral Wells. Last year it lent 46K books, movies and e-books and logged 85K visits.
What stands out about Boyce Ditto Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Mineral Wells’ civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Mineral Wells is ahead of 34% of U.S. towns, #216 of 539 in Texas. Mineral Wells is graded on two of the three inputs. Mineral Wells’ 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 ($42K–$70K) 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 →
69 community nonprofits are registered in Mineral Wells
4.5 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 (25 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.3%
5.3% of Mineral Wells’ 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 Mineral Wells’ residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Boyce Ditto Public Library serves 29,923 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 20 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Boyce Ditto Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
46K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
13,456 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 3 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
Boyce Ditto Public Library, 2300 SE Martin Luther King Jr St., Mineral Wells.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Boyce Ditto Public Library branch.
New in Mineral Wells? 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 $1.54 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Mineral Wells cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $462K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $712K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $462K budget.
Fine-free. No late fees on books returned late.
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 17,847 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Boyce Ditto Public Library serves 29,923 people in and around Mineral Wells, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Mineral Wells.
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 Mineral Wells
Does Mineral Wells have a public library?
Yes. Boyce Ditto Public Library, 2300 SE Martin Luther King Jr St., serves 29,923 people in and around Mineral Wells (the survey’s count) and is open about 43 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Boyce Ditto Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Mineral Wells’ library?
It logged 2.8 visits and lent 1.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Mineral Wells’ civic life grade?
C Mineral Wells is ahead of 34% of U.S. towns on civic life, #216 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 Mineral Wells.
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.