Photo: Robert Ashworth from Bellingham, WA., USA · CC BY 2.0Davenport’s library runs 6.9 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60 for libraries its size
Davenport Public Library serves Davenport’s 1,730 residents. Last year it lent 9,496 books, movies and e-books and logged 5,120 visits.
The short version on Davenport’s library
Open only about 16 hours a week
Davenport Public Library keeps short hours: about 16 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
A small-town library
Davenport Public Library serves 1,730 residents with about one full-time staff. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Davenport Public Library offered 12 programs last year, 6.9 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
45% of borrowing happens on a screen
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 45% of loans, more per resident than at 81% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 55%, much of it kids’ books. What people borrow ↓
Runs on less money than most
Davenport Public Library spends $18 per resident, less than 92% of similar-size libraries (typical: $54). What your card is worth ↓
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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Davenport’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Davenport is ahead of 63% of U.S. towns. Davenport’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 →
15 community nonprofits are registered in Davenport
8.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.9%
6.9% of Davenport’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.7% in the typical Washington 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 Davenport’s residents live; 2022.
45% of borrowing is digital
9,496 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 17K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.3 time last year, on average.
4,319 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Davenport Public Library serves 1,730 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 12 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
12 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Davenport last year.
Find it
Davenport Public Library, 505 7th St., Davenport.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Davenport? 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 $4.40 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Davenport cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $32K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $139K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $32K 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 1,253 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Davenport Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Davenport
Does Davenport have a public library?
Yes. Davenport Public Library, 505 7th St., serves Davenport’s 1,730 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 16 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Davenport 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 Davenport’s library?
It logged 3.0 visits and lent 5.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Davenport’s civic life grade?
B Davenport is ahead of 63% 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 Davenport.
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.