Photo: Ljray92 · CC BY-SA 4.0Rainelle’s library logs 0.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Rainelle Public Library serves 6,475 people in and around Rainelle. Last year it lent 6,867 books, movies and e-books and logged 6,100 visits.
What Rainelle’s library is like
Rainelle Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Rainelle Public Library records 0.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people. Borrowing is 0.8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8. It also spends less than most: $14 per resident, against a typical $43. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Rainelle Public Library offered 6 programs last year, 0.9 per 1,000 residents against a typical 34. Kids & programs ↓
West Virginia pays a big share
42% of the budget comes from the state, and 39% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Runs on less money than most
Rainelle Public Library spends $14 per resident, less than 92% of similar-size libraries (typical: $43). What your card is worth ↓
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; Rainelle Public Library serves 6,475 people in and around Rainelle, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Rainelle’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Rainelle is ahead of 55% of U.S. towns. Rainelle 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 →
6 community nonprofits are registered in Rainelle
3.7 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
8.1%
8.1% of Rainelle’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 Rainelle’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Rainelle Public Library serves 6,475 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 3 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Rainelle Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
6,867 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
The survey has no count of children’s loans for Rainelle’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
1,698 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
6 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
Find it
Rainelle Public Library, 378 7th Street, Rainelle.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Rainelle Public Library branch.
New in Rainelle? 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 $1.27 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Rainelle cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $90K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $114K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $90K 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 2,993 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Rainelle Public Library serves 6,475 people in and around Rainelle, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Rainelle.
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 Rainelle
Does Rainelle have a public library?
Yes. Rainelle Public Library, 378 7th Street, serves 6,475 people in and around Rainelle (the survey’s count) and is open about 42 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Rainelle 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 Rainelle’s library?
It logged 0.9 visits and lent 1.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Rainelle’s civic life grade?
B Rainelle is ahead of 55% 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 Rainelle.
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.