Photo: Miguel Gereda · CC BY-SA 4.0Danville’s library lends 1.4 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Danville Public Library serves Danville’s 42,597 residents. Last year it lent 96K books, movies and e-books and logged 72K visits.
What Danville’s library is like
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, Danville Public Library sits below the middle on all six per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on three. How it compares ↓
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 Danville’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Danville is ahead of 23% of U.S. towns, #74 of 88 in Virginia. Danville’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 ($33K–$56K) 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 →
229 community nonprofits are registered in Danville
5.4 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 (76 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 8 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
3.1%
3.1% of Danville’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 Danville’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Danville Public Library serves 42,597 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 32 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
96K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 58K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1 time last year, on average.
36,575 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, 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 Danville last year.
Find it
Ruby B. Archie Public Library, 511 Patton Street, Danville.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Danville? 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 $1.17 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Danville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.4M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.4M 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 2,719 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 Danville
Does Danville have a public library?
Yes. Danville Public Library, 511 Patton Street, serves Danville’s 42,597 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 47 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Danville Public 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 Danville’s library?
It logged 1.7 visits and lent 2.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Danville’s civic life grade?
C− Danville is ahead of 23% of U.S. towns on civic life, #74 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 Danville.
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.