Photo: SuperDalio · CC BY-SA 4.0Nitro’s library logs 1.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Nitro Public Library serves 6,624 people in and around Nitro. Last year it lent 13K books, movies and e-books and logged 9,449 visits.
What Nitro’s library is like
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, Nitro Public Library sits below the middle on all six per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on six. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Nitro Public Library offered 46 programs last year, 6.9 per 1,000 residents against a typical 34. Kids & programs ↓
Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf
Only 0% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 99% 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; Nitro Public Library serves 6,624 people in and around Nitro, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Nitro’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Nitro is ahead of 26% of U.S. towns, #46 of 48 in West Virginia. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($40K–$67K) 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.
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 →
20 community nonprofits are registered in Nitro
2.9 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 (10 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
8.2%
8.2% of Nitro’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 Nitro’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Nitro Public Library serves 6,624 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 6 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Nitro Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
13K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
The survey has no count of children’s loans for Nitro’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
46 programs a year
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
Nitro Public Library, 1700 Park Ave., Nitro.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Nitro Public Library branch.
New in Nitro? 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 $1.35 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Nitro cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $169K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $228K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $169K 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 1,997 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nitro | Nitro Public Library | — | 39 | C |
| Cross Lanes | Cross Lanes fine-free | — | 39 | — unincorporated |
| Institute | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Jefferson | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Teays Valley | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
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. Nitro Public Library serves 6,624 people in and around Nitro, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Nitro.
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 Nitro
Does Nitro have a public library?
Yes. Nitro Public Library, 1700 Park Ave., serves 6,624 people in and around Nitro (the survey’s count) and is open about 39 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Nitro 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 Nitro’s library?
It logged 1.4 visits and lent 1.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Nitro’s civic life grade?
C Nitro is ahead of 26% of U.S. towns on civic life, #46 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 Nitro.
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.