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Morgan west of Kentucky, Pennington GapPhoto: Nyttend · Public domain
Lee County Public Library · part of Lonesome Pine Regional Library

Pennington Gap’s library is a branch of Lonesome Pine Regional Library, which lends less per resident than 71% of systems its size

Pennington Gap’s library is the Lee County Public Library, a branch of Lonesome Pine Regional Library, which serves 97,067 people and lent 228K items last year.

539 Joslyn Avenue, Pennington Gap 24277 · about 50 hours a week
B−Civic lifeAhead of 47% of U.S. towns. Nonprofits and volunteering.
Directions (276) 546-1141 What’s a card worth?
Borrowed a year
228K
2.3 per resident
Visits a year
167K
1.7 per resident · Below typical (2.6)
Programs & events
2,164
about 42 a week · 50K attended
Cardholders
6%
5,589 cards
Open
50 hrs
a week at this branch
In brief

What Pennington Gap’s library is like

Most programs are for young children

76% of the 2,164 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 26 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓

Virginia pays a big share

25% of the budget comes from the state, and 72% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓

Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf

Only 8% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 92% 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; Pennington Gap’s library is a branch of Lonesome Pine Regional Library, so they cover the whole system (97,067 people), not just the Pennington Gap branch.

Civic life grade

What’s behind Pennington Gap’s civic life grade

On community nonprofits and volunteering, Pennington Gap is ahead of 47% of U.S. towns. Pennington Gap is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Pennington Gap’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.

B−
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Pennington Gap’s overall grade.
–Library visitsServed by a county or regional system, so there is no town figureDCommunity nonprofits0.7 per 1,000 residents · VA towns 4.4 · U.S. 3.7AVolunteering13.7% of adults 25–44 · VA towns 6.9% · U.S. 7.5%
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 47%
FewerMore
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $16K–$27K (76)Ahead of 88%

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.

How sure. Graded on two inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. Pennington Gap is small (1,568 residents), so a few dozen organizations or visits move its per-resident figures; the volunteering share is a 2022 estimate from Facebook users aged 25–44.

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 →

Places to belong

Pennington Gap has few registered community nonprofits

0.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture00.00 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation00.17 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans00.00 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services00.28 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education00.00 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.43
Health00.17 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.16
Environment & animals00.00 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.17

Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (0 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.

Volunteering

13.7%

13.7% of Pennington Gap’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 Pennington Gap’s residents live; 2022.

How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 1.7 visits · typical 2.6Lower than 72%
Borrowing per resident 2.2 print items · typical 3.7Lower than 71%
Digital borrowing 0.2 e-items · typical 1.2Bottom 10%
Kids’ borrowing 0.7 kids’ items · typical 1.7Lower than 77%
Program attendance 0.5 attendees · typical 0.3Higher than 74%
Programs offered 22.3 per 1,000 residents · typical 14Higher than 74%
Cardholders 6% of residents · typical 39%Bottom 10%
Spending $26 per resident · typical $40Lower than 72%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

Lonesome Pine Regional Library serves 97,067 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.

A year at the library

Every hour the doors are open, about 12 items go out

Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Lonesome Pine Regional Library system. The library’s own count.

167K
visits
1.7 per resident
228K
loans, print + digital
2.3 per resident
2,164
programs & events
50K attended
5,589
library cards
6% of people served
Every open hour12items borrowed
Every week966people at a program
Every day85Wi-Fi sessions
35 staff (full-time equivalent)84 public computers
What people borrow

Mostly books and media off the shelf

228K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.

228Kloans
Books & media (adults) 62%Kids’ books & media 30%E-books, audio & streaming 8%
From your couch

17,349 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.

Kids & programs

About 32 kids’ programs a week

Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.

Schools in Pennington Gap →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–51,374
Ages 6–11266
Teens25
Adults499
All ages0
Little ones
26.4

story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.

69K
kids’ books & media borrowed
50K
people at programs
2,164
programs
The building

Find it

Lee County Public Library, 539 Joslyn Avenue, Pennington Gap.

Directions(276) 546-1141
50
hours open a week
9,981
square feet
With a card

E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Lonesome Pine Regional Library branch.

New in Pennington Gap? The Handbook →

Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.

What your card is worth

For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.64 worth

Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Pennington Gap cardholder borrows.

In a month I’d use…
Books$17 each
2
Kids’ books$12 each
1
E-books & audio$15 each
0
Movies & music$4 each
0
Programs & classes$10 a program
1
Computer & Wi-Fi$3 a session
0
Your card saves you about
$672
a year at retail prices · $56 a month

Who pays for it
$26 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.5M.

Local taxes 72%State 25%Gifts & other 3%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $4.1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.5M 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 5,589 cardholders ÷ 12.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.

  • System-wide. Lee County Public Library is one branch of Lonesome Pine Regional Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 97,067 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 Pennington Gap

Does Pennington Gap have a public library?

Yes: Lee County Public Library, 539 Joslyn Avenue, is a branch of Lonesome Pine Regional Library, which serves 97,067 people. The branch is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Lonesome Pine Regional 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 Pennington Gap’s library?

It logged 1.7 visits and lent 2.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.

What is Pennington Gap’s civic life grade?

B− Pennington Gap is ahead of 47% 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 Pennington Gap.

Town Square →
Start a conversation

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.