Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0Olney’s library runs 99 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Olney Community Library and Arts Center serves 9,143 people in and around Olney. Last year it lent 17K books, movies and e-books and logged 28K visits.
What Olney’s library is like
Programs are almost all for children
80% of the 902 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 1.7 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 76% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is lower than at 58% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Three times the programs of a typical library its size
Olney Community Library and Arts Center ran 902 programs last year, about 17 a week. That’s 99 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34. People show up: 12,000 attended. Kids & programs ↓
Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf
Only 3% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 91% 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; Olney Community Library and Arts Center serves 9,143 people in and around Olney, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Olney’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Olney is ahead of 79% of U.S. towns, #44 of 539 in Texas. Olney is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups ranks highest.
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 Olney
4.6 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 (7 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.4%
9.4% of Olney’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 Olney’s residents live; 2022.
About 14 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 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Olney Community Library and Arts Center serves 9,143 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 8 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Olney Community Library and Arts Center system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
17K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
504 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Olney Community Library and Arts Center, 807 W Hamilton St., Olney.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Olney Community Library and Arts Center branch.
New in Olney? 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 $1.22 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Olney cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $280K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $342K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $280K 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 1,825 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Olney Community Library and Arts Center serves 9,143 people in and around Olney, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Olney.
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 Olney
Does Olney have a public library?
Yes. Olney Community Library and Arts Center, 807 W Hamilton St., serves 9,143 people in and around Olney (the survey’s count) and is open about 42 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Olney Community Library and Arts Center 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 Olney’s library?
It logged 3.1 visits and lent 1.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Olney’s civic life grade?
A− Olney is ahead of 79% of U.S. towns on civic life, #44 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 Olney.
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.