Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Marmet

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
Ebenezer ChapelEbenezer Chapel · Photo: Coal town guy · CC BY-SA 4.0
Marmet · part of Kanawha County Public Library

Marmet’s library is a branch of Kanawha County Public Library, which lends less per resident than 62% of systems its size

Marmet’s library is the Marmet, a branch of Kanawha County Public Library, which serves 160,474 people and lent 742K items last year.

9303 Oregon Ave., Marmet 25315 · about 17 hours a week
C−Civic lifeAhead of 24% of U.S. towns. Nonprofits and volunteering.
Directions (304) 949-6628 What’s a card worth?
Borrowed a year
742K
4.6 per resident
Visits a year
292K
1.8 per resident · Below typical (2.1)
Programs & events
1,659
about 32 a week · 37K attended
Cardholders
37%
58,781 cards
Open
17 hrs
a week at this branch
In brief

What Marmet’s library is like

Open only about 17 hours a week

The Marmet branch keeps short hours: about 17 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓

45% of borrowing happens on a screen

E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 45% of loans, more per resident than at 64% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 55%. 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; Marmet’s library is a branch of Kanawha County Public Library, so they cover the whole system (160,474 people), not just the Marmet branch.

Civic life grade

What’s behind Marmet’s civic life grade

On community nonprofits and volunteering, Marmet is ahead of 24% of U.S. towns. Marmet is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Marmet’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.

C−
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Marmet’s overall grade.
–Library visitsServed by a county or regional system, so there is no town figureDCommunity nonprofits1.6 per 1,000 residents · WV towns 5.0 · U.S. 3.7BVolunteering7.9% of adults 25–44 · WV towns 8.9% · U.S. 7.5%
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 24%
FewerMore
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $39K–$65K (5,575)Ahead of 24%

Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($39K–$65K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.

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.

How sure. Graded on two inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. Marmet is small (1,416 residents), so a few dozen organizations or visits move its per-resident figures; the volunteering share is a 2022 estimate from Facebook users aged 25–44.

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 →

Places to belong

2 community nonprofits are registered in Marmet

1.6 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture00.33 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation00.00 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans10.66 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services00.00 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education10.66 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.43
Health00.00 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.16
Environment & animals00.00 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.17

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.

Volunteering

7.9%

7.9% of Marmet’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 Marmet’s residents live; 2022.

★ What stands out · What people borrow

45% of borrowing is digital

742K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.

The survey has no count of children’s loans for Marmet’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.

From your couch

331,277 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.

How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 7 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 1.8 visits · typical 2.1Lower than 62%
Borrowing per resident 2.6 print items · typical 3.2Lower than 62%
Digital borrowing 2.1 e-items · typical 1.4Higher than 64%
Program attendance 0.2 attendees · typical 0.2Higher than 56%
Programs offered 10.3 per 1,000 residents · typical 9Higher than 54%
Cardholders 37% of residents · typical 41%Lower than 59%
Spending $56 per resident · typical $36Higher than 73%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

Kanawha County Public Library serves 160,474 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.

A year at the library

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.

292K
visits
1.8 per resident
742K
loans, print + digital
4.6 per resident
1,659
programs & events
37K attended
59K
library cards
37% of people served
Every open hour36items borrowed
Every week707people at a program
Every day84Wi-Fi sessions
99 staff (full-time equivalent)92 public computers
Kids & programs

About 14 kids’ programs a week

Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.

Schools in Marmet →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–5510
Ages 6–11204
Teens144
Adults408
All ages393
Little ones
9.8

story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.

37K
people at programs
1,659
programs
The building

Find it

Marmet, 9303 Oregon Ave., Marmet.

Directions(304) 949-6628
17
hours open a week
429
square feet
With a card

No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Kanawha County Public Library branch.

New in Marmet? The Handbook →

Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.

What your card is worth

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 Marmet cardholder borrows.

In a month I’d use…
Books$17 each
1
Kids’ books$12 each
0
E-books & audio$15 each
0
Movies & music$4 each
0
Programs & classes$10 a program
0
Computer & Wi-Fi$3 a session
0
Your card saves you about
$204
a year at retail prices · $17 a month

Who pays for it
$56 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $8.9M.

Local taxes 80%State 9%Federal 1%Gifts & other 9%

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.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.

  • System-wide. Marmet is one branch of Kanawha County Public Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 160,474 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 Marmet

Does Marmet have a public library?

Yes: Marmet, 9303 Oregon Ave., is a branch of Kanawha County Public Library, which serves 160,474 people. The branch is open about 17 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 Marmet’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 Marmet’s civic life grade?

C− Marmet is ahead of 24% 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 Marmet.

Town Square →
Start a conversation

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.