Photo: Mojo Hand · CC BY-SA 4.0Powhatan’s library runs 11 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Powhatan County Public Library serves 30,445 people in and around Powhatan. Last year it lent 149K books, movies and e-books and logged 93K visits.
What Powhatan’s library is like
Few residents carry a card
Only 12% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 39% for its size. How it compares ↓
Virginia pays a big share
22% of the budget comes from the state, and 77% 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 58% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 62% 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; Powhatan County Public Library serves 30,445 people in and around Powhatan, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Powhatan’s civic life grade
Powhatan isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
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.
Powhatan County Public Library serves 30,445 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 53 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Powhatan County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
149K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
30,754 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 4 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
Powhatan County Public Library, 2270 Mann Rd., Powhatan.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Powhatan County Public Library branch.
New in Powhatan? 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 $3.04 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Powhatan cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $796K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $796K 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 3,738 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Powhatan County Public Library serves 30,445 people in and around Powhatan, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Powhatan.
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 Powhatan
Does Powhatan have a public library?
Yes. Powhatan County Public Library, 2270 Mann Rd., serves 30,445 people in and around Powhatan (the survey’s count) and is open about 54 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Powhatan 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 Powhatan’s library?
It logged 3.1 visits and lent 4.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Powhatan’s civic life grade?
Powhatan isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Powhatan.
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.