Photo: Billy Hathorn · CC BY-SA 3.0Shamrock’s library logs 0.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Shamrock Community Library serves 4,804 people in and around Shamrock. Last year it lent 8,699 books, movies and e-books and logged 1,615 visits.
What Shamrock’s library is like
Shamrock Community Library is used less than most libraries its size
Shamrock Community Library records 0.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people. Borrowing is 0.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8. It also spends less than most: $7 per resident, against a typical $43. How it compares ↓
Most of the library’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 66% of loans. Print still makes up 34%. What people borrow ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Shamrock Community Library offered 25 programs last year, 5.2 per 1,000 residents against a typical 34. Kids & programs ↓
Open only about 19 hours a week
The Shamrock branch keeps short hours: about 19 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
Runs on less money than most
Shamrock Community Library spends $7 per resident, less than 98% of similar-size libraries (typical: $43). What your card is worth ↓
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; Shamrock Community Library serves 4,804 people in and around Shamrock, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Shamrock’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Shamrock is ahead of 66% of U.S. towns. Shamrock is graded on two of the three inputs. Shamrock’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 →
9 community nonprofits are registered in Shamrock
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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.4%
7.4% of Shamrock’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 Shamrock’s residents live; 2022.
66% of borrowing is digital
8,699 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
5,778 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 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Shamrock Community Library serves 4,804 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 9 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Shamrock Community Library system. The library’s own count.
25 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
Shamrock Community Library, 712 N Main St., Shamrock.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Shamrock Community Library branch.
New in Shamrock? 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 $4.54 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Shamrock cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $32K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $145K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $32K 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 233 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Shamrock Community Library serves 4,804 people in and around Shamrock, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Shamrock.
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 Shamrock
Does Shamrock have a public library?
Yes. Shamrock Community Library, 712 N Main St., serves 4,804 people in and around Shamrock (the survey’s count) and is open about 19 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Shamrock Community 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 Shamrock’s library?
It logged 0.3 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 Shamrock’s civic life grade?
B+ Shamrock is ahead of 66% 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 Shamrock.
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.