Gen. John McCausland House (Boundary Increase) · Photo: Roger B. Wise · CC BY-SA 3.0Buffalo’s library is a branch of Putnam County Library, which lends more per resident than 68% of systems its size
Buffalo’s library is the Buffalo, a branch of Putnam County Library, which serves 57,440 people and lent 376K items last year.
Buffalo’s library, in brief
Nearly everyone the system serves has a card
53,428 cards for 57,440 people, or 93%. At the typical library serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, it’s 39%. How it compares ↓
West Virginia pays a big share
37% of the budget comes from the state, and 61% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. 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; Buffalo’s library is a branch of Putnam County Library, so they cover the whole system (57,440 people), not just the Buffalo branch.
What’s behind Buffalo’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Buffalo is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns. Buffalo is graded on two of the three inputs. Buffalo’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 →
9 community nonprofits are registered in Buffalo
7.8 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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.6%
6.6% of Buffalo’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 Buffalo’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Putnam County Library serves 57,440 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 41 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Putnam County Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
376K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
The survey has no count of children’s loans for Buffalo’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
48,216 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 5 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
Buffalo, 19209 Buffalo Road, Buffalo.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Putnam County Library branch.
New in Buffalo? 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 $6.62 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Buffalo cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $962K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $962K 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 53,428 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Buffalo is one branch of Putnam County Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 57,440 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 Buffalo
Does Buffalo have a public library?
Yes: Buffalo, 19209 Buffalo Road, is a branch of Putnam County Library, which serves 57,440 people.
Is Putnam County Library 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 Buffalo’s library?
It logged 1.2 visits and lent 6.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Buffalo’s civic life grade?
B+ Buffalo is ahead of 70% 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 Buffalo.
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.