Photo: Alma mater · CC BY-SA 3.0Harrisonburg’s library runs 15 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 9 for libraries its size
Massanutten Regional Library serves 162,560 people in and around Harrisonburg. Last year it lent 862K books, movies and e-books and logged 237K visits.
What Harrisonburg’s library is like
Most programs are for young children
79% of the 2,401 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 21 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Virginia pays a big share
21% of the budget comes from the state, and 79% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 62% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 78% 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; Massanutten Regional Library serves 162,560 people in and around Harrisonburg, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Harrisonburg’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Harrisonburg is ahead of 63% of U.S. towns, #38 of 88 in Virginia. Harrisonburg is graded on two of the three inputs. Harrisonburg’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 →
270 community nonprofits are registered in Harrisonburg
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 (67 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 9 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.1%
7.1% of Harrisonburg’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 Harrisonburg’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Massanutten Regional Library serves 162,560 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 68 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Massanutten Regional Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
862K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
84,996 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 36 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
Massanutten Regional Library, 174 South Main Street, Harrisonburg.
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 Massanutten Regional Library branch.
New in Harrisonburg? 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 $4.36 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Harrisonburg cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $2.9M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $13M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.9M 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 9,062 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Massanutten Regional Library serves 162,560 people in and around Harrisonburg, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Harrisonburg.
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 Harrisonburg
Does Harrisonburg have a public library?
Yes. Massanutten Regional Library, 174 South Main Street, serves 162,560 people in and around Harrisonburg (the survey’s count) and is open about 52 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Massanutten 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 Harrisonburg’s library?
It logged 1.5 visits and lent 5.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Harrisonburg’s civic life grade?
B Harrisonburg is ahead of 63% of U.S. towns on civic life, #38 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 Harrisonburg.
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.