Photo: MarkMcCain · CC BY-SA 4.0Bluefield’s library logs 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Craft Memorial Library serves 47,538 people in and around Bluefield. Last year it lent 84K books, movies and e-books and logged 32K visits.
Bluefield’s library, in brief
Craft Memorial Library is used less than most libraries its size
Craft Memorial Library records 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people. Borrowing is 1.3 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7. It also spends less than most: $12 per resident, against a typical $40. How it compares ↓
West Virginia pays a big share
54% of the budget comes from the state, and 25% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Craft Memorial Library offered 273 programs last year, 5.7 per 1,000 residents against a typical 14. Kids & programs ↓
Runs on less money than most
Craft Memorial Library spends $12 per resident, less than 93% of similar-size libraries (typical: $40). 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; Craft Memorial Library serves 47,538 people in and around Bluefield, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Bluefield’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Bluefield is ahead of 50% of U.S. towns, #37 of 48 in West Virginia. Bluefield is graded on two of the three inputs. Bluefield’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 →
60 community nonprofits are registered in Bluefield
6.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (29 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.3%
5.3% of Bluefield’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.9% in the typical West 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 Bluefield’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Craft Memorial Library serves 47,538 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 18 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Craft Memorial Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
84K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
The survey has no count of children’s loans for Bluefield’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
20,186 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 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
Craft Memorial Library, 600 Commerce Street, Bluefield.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Craft Memorial Library branch.
New in Bluefield? 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 $2.62 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Bluefield cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $553K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $553K 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 11,218 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Craft Memorial Library serves 47,538 people in and around Bluefield, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Bluefield.
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 Bluefield
Does Bluefield have a public library?
Yes. Craft Memorial Library, 600 Commerce Street, serves 47,538 people in and around Bluefield (the survey’s count) and is open about 56 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Craft Memorial 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 Bluefield’s library?
It logged 0.7 visits and lent 1.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Bluefield’s civic life grade?
B− Bluefield is ahead of 50% of U.S. towns on civic life, #37 of 48 in West Virginia. 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 Bluefield.
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.