Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Mount Hope

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
New River Company General Office BuildingNew River Company General Office Building · Photo: Coal town guy · CC BY-SA 3.0
Mt. Hope · part of Fayette County Public Library

Mount Hope’s library is a branch of Fayette County Public Library, which lends less per resident than 75% of systems its size

Mount Hope’s library is the Mt. Hope, a branch of Fayette County Public Library, which serves 40,488 people and lent 112K items last year.

500 Main Street, Mt. Hope 25880 · about 35 hours a week
C−Civic lifeAhead of 17% of U.S. towns. Nonprofits and volunteering.
Directions (304) 877-3260 What’s a card worth?
Borrowed a year
112K
2.8 per resident
Visits a year
66K
1.6 per resident · Below typical (2.6)
Programs & events
1,339
about 26 a week · 15K attended
Cardholders
78%
31,388 cards
Open
35 hrs
a week at this branch
In brief

The short version on Mount Hope’s library

West Virginia pays a big share

24% of the budget comes from the state, and 74% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓

78% of the people it serves carry a library card

31,388 cards for 40,488 people, or 78%. At the typical library serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, it’s 39%. How it compares ↓

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; Mount Hope’s library is a branch of Fayette County Public Library, so they cover the whole system (40,488 people), not just the Mount Hope branch.

Civic life grade

What’s behind Mount Hope’s civic life grade

On community nonprofits and volunteering, Mount Hope is ahead of 17% of U.S. towns. Mount Hope is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the middle.

C−
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Mount Hope’s overall grade.
–Library visitsServed by a county or regional system, so there is no town figureDCommunity nonprofits1.5 per 1,000 residents · WV towns 5.0 · U.S. 3.7C+Volunteering7.2% of adults 25–44 · WV towns 8.9% · U.S. 7.5%
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 17%
FewerMore
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $26K–$43K (950)Ahead of 35%

Fayette County Public Library spends $21 per resident, against a typical $40 for libraries its size.

Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($26K–$43K) 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. Mount Hope is small (1,234 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 Mount Hope

1.5 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: arts & culture.

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture10.40 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation00.13 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans10.40 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services10.40 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education00.13 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.

Volunteering

7.2%

7.2% of Mount Hope’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 Mount Hope’s residents live; 2022.

★ What stands out · Kids & programs

About 15 kids’ programs a week

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

Schools in Mount Hope →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–5337
Ages 6–11445
Teens86
Adults471
All ages0
Little ones
6.5

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

15K
people at programs
1,339
programs
How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 7 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 1.6 visits · typical 2.6Lower than 74%
Borrowing per resident 1.9 print items · typical 3.7Lower than 75%
Digital borrowing 0.9 e-items · typical 1.2Lower than 60%
Program attendance 0.4 attendees · typical 0.3Higher than 57%
Programs offered 33.1 per 1,000 residents · typical 14Higher than 89%
Cardholders 78% of residents · typical 39%Higher than 89%
Spending $21 per resident · typical $40Lower than 79%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

Fayette County Public Library serves 40,488 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.

A year at the library

A year at Fayette County Public Library

Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Fayette County Public Library system. The library’s own count.

66K
visits
1.6 per resident
112K
loans, print + digital
2.8 per resident
1,339
programs & events
15K attended
31K
library cards
78% of people served
Every week284people at a program
Every day13Wi-Fi sessions
12 staff (full-time equivalent)30 public computers

Not reported for 2024: hours open. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.

What people borrow

Mostly books and media off the shelf

112K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.

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

From your couch

36,726 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.

The building

Find it

Mt. Hope, 500 Main Street, Mt. Hope.

Directions(304) 877-3260
35
hours open a week
1,200
square feet
With a card

E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Fayette County Public Library branch.

New in Mount Hope? 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 $2.31 worth

Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Mount Hope 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
$21 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $860K.

Local taxes 74%State 24%Gifts & other 2%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $860K 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 31,388 cardholders ÷ 12.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.

  • Not reported for 2024: hours open. The survey filled the figure with its own estimate, so it is left out.
  • System-wide. Mt. Hope is one branch of Fayette County Public Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 40,488 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 Mount Hope

Does Mount Hope have a public library?

Yes: Mt. Hope, 500 Main Street, is a branch of Fayette County Public Library, which serves 40,488 people. The branch is open about 35 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Fayette 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 Mount Hope’s library?

It logged 1.6 visits and lent 2.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.

What is Mount Hope’s civic life grade?

C− Mount Hope is ahead of 17% 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 Mount Hope.

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.