Photo: Famartin · CC BY-SA 4.0Marshall’s library is a branch of Fauquier County Public Library, which lends more per resident than 53% of systems its size
Marshall’s library is the John Marshall Branch, a branch of Fauquier County Public Library, which serves 73,291 people and lent 406K items last year.
What stands out about John Marshall Branch
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Marshall’s civic life grade
Marshall isn’t graded on civic life: it’s unincorporated, so its nonprofits can’t be counted reliably (mailing addresses don’t follow its boundary) and its library is a branch of Fauquier County Public Library, so there is no town figure for visits.
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 →
Volunteering in Marshall
Marshall is unincorporated, so its nonprofits aren’t counted: they file by mailing address, which doesn’t follow its boundary.
9.0%
9.0% of Marshall’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 Marshall’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Fauquier County Public Library serves 73,291 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 45 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Fauquier County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
406K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
115,091 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 9 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
John Marshall Branch, 4133 Rectortown Road, Marshall.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Fauquier County Public Library branch.
New in Marshall? 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 $1.77 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Marshall cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $3.4M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3.4M 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 10,813 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. John Marshall Branch is one branch of Fauquier County Public Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 73,291 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 Marshall
Does Marshall have a public library?
Yes: John Marshall Branch, 4133 Rectortown Road, is a branch of Fauquier County Public Library, which serves 73,291 people. The branch is open about 58 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Fauquier County 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 Marshall’s library?
It logged 2.2 visits and lent 5.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Marshall’s civic life grade?
Marshall isn’t graded on civic life: it’s unincorporated, so its nonprofits can’t be counted reliably (mailing addresses don’t follow its boundary) and its library is a branch of Fauquier County Public Library, so there is no town figure for visits. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Marshall.
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.