Photo: Sea Cow · CC BY-SA 4.0Forks’ library is a branch of North Olympic Library System, which lends more per resident than 89% of systems its size
Forks’s library is the Forks Branch Library, a branch of North Olympic Library System, which serves 78,550 people and lent 999K items last year.
What Forks’s library is like
A system of heavy borrowers
The North Olympic Library System lends 9.4 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, more than 89% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3.3 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.2, higher than at 90% of similar-size libraries. It’s 26% of all loans. 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; Forks’s library is a branch of North Olympic Library System, so they cover the whole system (78,550 people), not just the Forks branch.
What’s behind Forks’ civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Forks is ahead of 73% of U.S. towns, #38 of 152 in Washington. Forks is graded on two of the three inputs. Forks’ 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 →
42 community nonprofits are registered in Forks
12.4 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 (13 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.4%
6.4% of Forks’ 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 Forks’ residents live; 2022.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
999K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
257,563 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 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
North Olympic Library System serves 78,550 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 102 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole North Olympic Library System system. The library’s own count.
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
Forks Branch Library, 171 S. Forks Avenue, Forks.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every North Olympic Library System branch.
New in Forks? 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 $2.66 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Forks cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $6M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $16M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $6M budget.
Fine-free. No late fees on books returned late.
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 30,891 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Forks Branch Library is one branch of North Olympic Library System, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 78,550 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 Forks
Does Forks have a public library?
Yes: Forks Branch Library, 171 S. Forks Avenue, is a branch of North Olympic Library System, which serves 78,550 people. The branch is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is North Olympic Library System fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Forks’ library?
It logged 3.8 visits and lent 12.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Forks’ civic life grade?
B+ Forks is ahead of 73% of U.S. towns on civic life, #38 of 152 in Washington. 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 Forks.
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.