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Shack MountainShack Mountain · Public domain
Northside Library · part of Jefferson-Madison Regional Library

Rio’s library is a branch of Jefferson-Madison Regional Library, which lends more per resident than 73% of systems its size

Rio’s library is the Northside Library, a branch of Jefferson-Madison Regional Library, which serves 239,717 people and lent 1.8M items last year.

705 W. Rio Rd, Charlottesville 22901 · about 58 hours a week
–Civic lifeNot graded: unincorporated places have too few inputs
Directions (434) 973-7893 What’s a card worth?
Borrowed a year
1.8M
7.5 per resident
Visits a year
846K
3.5 per resident · Above typical (2.1)
Programs & events
2,624
about 50 a week · 65K attended
Cardholders
20%
47,437 cards
Open
58 hrs
a week at this branch

What stands out about Northside Library

Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.

Always busyA Wi-Fi hubOpen long hoursPart of a bigger system
Civic life grade

What’s behind Rio’s civic life grade

Rio 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 Jefferson-Madison Regional Library, so there is no town figure for visits.

–
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Rio’s overall grade.
–Library visitsServed by a county or regional system, so there is no town figure–Community nonprofitsUnincorporated: nonprofits are filed by mailing address, which doesn’t follow its boundaryB−Volunteering7.7% of adults 25–44 · VA towns 6.9% · U.S. 7.5%

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 →

Places to belong

Volunteering in Rio

Rio is unincorporated, so its nonprofits aren’t counted: they file by mailing address, which doesn’t follow its boundary.

Volunteering

7.7%

7.7% of Rio’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 Rio’s residents live; 2022.

★ What stands out · A year at the library

Every hour the doors are open, about 78 items go out

Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Jefferson-Madison Regional Library system. The library’s own count.

846K
visits
3.5 per resident
1.8M
loans, print + digital
7.5 per resident
2,624
programs & events
65K attended
47K
library cards
20% of people served
Every open hour78items borrowed
Every week1,257people at a program
Every day4,910Wi-Fi sessions
108 staff (full-time equivalent)148 public computers
How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures

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

Visits per resident 3.5 visits · typical 2.1Higher than 85%
Borrowing per resident 5.3 print items · typical 3.2Higher than 73%
Digital borrowing 2.2 e-items · typical 1.4Higher than 69%
Kids’ borrowing 2.7 kids’ items · typical 1.6Higher than 73%
Program attendance 0.3 attendees · typical 0.2Higher than 65%
Programs offered 10.9 per 1,000 residents · typical 9Higher than 58%
Cardholders 20% of residents · typical 41%Lower than 87%
Spending $42 per resident · typical $36Higher than 58%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

Jefferson-Madison Regional Library serves 239,717 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.

What people borrow

More than half the print loans are kids’ books

1.8M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.

1.8Mloans
Books & media (adults) 35%Kids’ books & media 35%E-books, audio & streaming 30%
From your couch

537,894 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 30 kids’ programs a week

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

Schools in Rio →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–5897
Ages 6–11667
Teens272
Adults755
All ages33
Little ones
17.3

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

640K
kids’ books & media borrowed
65K
people at programs
2,624
programs
The building

Find it

Northside Library, 705 W. Rio Rd, Charlottesville.

Directions(434) 973-7893
58
hours open a week
30,000
square feet
With a card

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

New in Rio? 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 $3.21 worth

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

In a month I’d use…
Books$17 each
1
Kids’ books$12 each
1
E-books & audio$15 each
1
Movies & music$4 each
0
Programs & classes$10 a program
0
Computer & Wi-Fi$3 a session
3
Your card saves you about
$636
a year at retail prices · $53 a month

Who pays for it
$42 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $1M.

Local taxes 86%State 10%Gifts & other 4%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $32M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1M 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 47,437 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. Northside Library is one branch of Jefferson-Madison Regional Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 239,717 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 Rio

Does Rio have a public library?

Yes: Northside Library, 705 W. Rio Rd, is a branch of Jefferson-Madison Regional Library, which serves 239,717 people. The branch is open about 58 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Jefferson-Madison 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 Rio’s library?

It logged 3.5 visits and lent 7.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.

What is Rio’s civic life grade?

Rio 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 Jefferson-Madison Regional Library, so there is no town figure for visits. How it works.

Book talk

Reading, story times and the library in Rio.

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.