Photo: Ser Amantio di Nicolao at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Colonial Beach’s library is a branch of Central Rappahannock Regional Library, which lends more per resident than 82% of systems its size
Colonial Beach’s library is the Cooper Branch, a branch of Central Rappahannock Regional Library, which serves 347,033 people and lent 2.9M items last year.
What stands out about Cooper Branch
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Colonial Beach’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Colonial Beach is ahead of 38% of U.S. towns, #62 of 88 in Virginia. Colonial Beach is graded on two of the three inputs. Colonial Beach’s 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 ($45K–$76K) 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 →
19 community nonprofits are registered in Colonial Beach
4.9 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.
5.3%
5.3% of Colonial Beach’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.9% in the typical Virginia 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 Colonial Beach’s residents live; 2022.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
2.9M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
629,128 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 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Central Rappahannock Regional Library serves 347,033 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 120 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Central Rappahannock Regional Library system. The library’s own count.
About 41 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
Cooper Branch, 20 Washington Ave, Colonial Beach.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Central Rappahannock Regional Library branch.
New in Colonial Beach? 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 $3.43 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Colonial Beach cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $14M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $46M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $14M 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 31,744 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Cooper Branch is one branch of Central Rappahannock Regional Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 347,033 people it serves.
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 Colonial Beach
Does Colonial Beach have a public library?
Yes: Cooper Branch, 20 Washington Ave, is a branch of Central Rappahannock Regional Library, which serves 347,033 people. The branch is open about 32 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Central Rappahannock Regional 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 Colonial Beach’s library?
It logged 3.2 visits and lent 8.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Colonial Beach’s civic life grade?
C+ Colonial Beach is ahead of 38% of U.S. towns on civic life, #62 of 88 in Virginia. 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 Colonial Beach.
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.