Photo: Daniel G Rego · CC BY-SA 4.0Charleston’s library logs 1.8 visits per resident, against a typical 2.1 for libraries its size
Kanawha County Public Library serves 160,474 people in and around Charleston. Last year it lent 742K books, movies and e-books and logged 292K visits.
What stands out about Kanawha County Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Charleston’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Charleston is ahead of 95% of U.S. towns, #9 of 48 in West Virginia. Charleston is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Charleston’s count of community nonprofits ranks highest.
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 →
505 community nonprofits are registered in Charleston
10.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (77 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 20 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
9.7%
9.7% of Charleston’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 Charleston’s residents live; 2022.
45% of borrowing is digital
742K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
The survey has no count of children’s loans for Charleston’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
331,277 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 4 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Kanawha County Public Library serves 160,474 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 36 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Kanawha County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
About 14 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
Kanawha County Public Library, 123 Capitol St., Charleston.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Kanawha County Public Library branch.
New in Charleston? 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 $1.39 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Charleston cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $8.9M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $12M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $8.9M 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 58,781 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Charleston | South Charleston Public Library fine-free | 6.5 | 50 | B |
| Charleston | Kanawha County Public Library fine-free | — | 60 | A |
| Dunbar | Dunbar fine-free | — | 54 | B+ |
| Malden | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
Loans = print + digital items borrowed in the library’s fiscal year, per person it serves. — = no library of its own, a county or regional system (its numbers cover many towns), or no report. Civic life: — = not graded (unincorporated places, whose nonprofits can’t be placed by mailing address, or towns with fewer than two of the three inputs).
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Kanawha County Public Library serves 160,474 people in and around Charleston, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Charleston.
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 Charleston
Does Charleston have a public library?
Yes. Kanawha County Public Library, 123 Capitol St., serves 160,474 people in and around Charleston (the survey’s count) and is open about 60 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Kanawha County Public 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 Charleston’s library?
It logged 1.8 visits and lent 4.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Charleston’s civic life grade?
A Charleston is ahead of 95% of U.S. towns on civic life, #9 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 Charleston.
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.