Photo: Charles Johnson, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers · Public domainPoint Pleasant’s library logs 0.5 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Mason County Public Library serves 25,453 people in and around Point Pleasant. Last year it lent 14K books, movies and e-books and logged 13K visits.
What Point Pleasant’s library is like
Mason County Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Mason County Public Library records 0.5 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people. Borrowing is 0.3 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7. It also spends less than most: $12 per resident, against a typical $40. How it compares ↓
West Virginia pays a big share
51% of the budget comes from the state, and 38% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Programs are almost all for children
85% of the 144 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 1.6 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Mason County Public Library offered 144 programs last year, 5.7 per 1,000 residents against a typical 14. Kids & programs ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 16% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 39% for its size. 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; Mason County Public Library serves 25,453 people in and around Point Pleasant, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Point Pleasant’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Point Pleasant is ahead of 71% of U.S. towns, #29 of 48 in West Virginia. Point Pleasant is graded on two of the three inputs. Point Pleasant’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
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 →
23 community nonprofits are registered in Point Pleasant
5.7 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 (9 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.5%
7.5% of Point Pleasant’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 Point Pleasant’s residents live; 2022.
45% of borrowing is digital
14K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
The survey has no count of children’s loans for Point Pleasant’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
6,160 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Mason County Public Library serves 25,453 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 3 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Mason County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
About 2 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
Mason County Public Library, 508 Viand Street, Point Pleasant.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Mason County Public Library branch.
New in Point Pleasant? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Point Pleasant cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $304K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $238K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $304K 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 3,964 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Point Pleasant | Mason County Public Library | — | 40 | B+ |
| Gallipolis Township | Dr. Samuel L. Bossard Memorial Library | — | 67 | A+ |
| Addison Township | None of its own | — | — | A+ |
| Kanauga | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Henderson | 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. Mason County Public Library serves 25,453 people in and around Point Pleasant, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Point Pleasant.
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 Point Pleasant
Does Point Pleasant have a public library?
Yes. Mason County Public Library, 508 Viand Street, serves 25,453 people in and around Point Pleasant (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Mason 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 Point Pleasant’s library?
It logged 0.5 visits and lent 0.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Point Pleasant’s civic life grade?
B+ Point Pleasant is ahead of 71% of U.S. towns on civic life, #29 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 Point Pleasant.
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.