Photo: Alainmoscoso · CC BY-SA 3.0Keyser’s library logs 1 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Keyser-Mineral County Public Library serves 25,819 people in and around Keyser. Last year it lent 62K books, movies and e-books and logged 25K visits.
What Keyser’s library is like
West Virginia pays a big share
55% of the budget comes from the state, and 26% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Fewer visits than most libraries its size
Keyser-Mineral County Public Library records 1 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, below 90% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing holds up better, at 2.2 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
Runs on less money than most
Keyser-Mineral County Public Library spends $11 per resident, less than 94% of similar-size libraries (typical: $40). What your card is worth ↓
Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf
Only 8% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 91% of similar-size libraries. 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; Keyser-Mineral County Public Library serves 25,819 people in and around Keyser, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Keyser’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Keyser is ahead of 93% of U.S. towns, #10 of 48 in West Virginia. Keyser is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups 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 →
27 community nonprofits are registered in Keyser
5.5 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 (7 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
12.8%
12.8% of Keyser’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 Keyser’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Keyser-Mineral County Public Library serves 25,819 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 12 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Keyser-Mineral County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
62K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
The survey has no count of children’s loans for Keyser’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
4,906 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 4 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
Keyser-Mineral County Public Library, 105 N. Main Street, Keyser.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Keyser-Mineral County Public Library branch.
New in Keyser? 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 $3.79 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Keyser cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $289K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $289K 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 10,822 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Keyser-Mineral County Public Library serves 25,819 people in and around Keyser, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Keyser.
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 Keyser
Does Keyser have a public library?
Yes. Keyser-Mineral County Public Library, 105 N. Main Street, serves 25,819 people in and around Keyser (the survey’s count) and is open about 45 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Keyser-Mineral County 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 Keyser’s library?
It logged 1.0 visits and lent 2.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Keyser’s civic life grade?
A Keyser is ahead of 93% of U.S. towns on civic life, #10 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 Keyser.
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.