Photo: BigCheddah · CC BY-SA 4.0Evanston’s library logs 4 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Uinta County Library System serves 20,745 people in and around Evanston. Last year it lent 141K books, movies and e-books and logged 83K visits.
Evanston’s library, in brief
Programs are almost all for children
88% of the 643 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 8.9 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Above typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, Uinta County Library System is above the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, with three in the top 30%. No single number stands out, and none lags far behind. 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; Uinta County Library System serves 20,745 people in and around Evanston, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Evanston’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Evanston is ahead of 69% of U.S. towns, #16 of 24 in Wyoming. Evanston is graded on two of the three inputs. Evanston’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 →
86 community nonprofits are registered in Evanston
7.3 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (7 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.7%
6.7% of Evanston’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.3% in the typical Wyoming 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 Evanston’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Uinta County Library System serves 20,745 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 35 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Uinta County Library System system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
141K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
38,458 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 11 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
Uinta County Library, 701 Main St., Evanston.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Uinta County Library System branch.
New in Evanston? 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 $4.95 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Evanston cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $454K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $454K 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 11,799 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Uinta County Library System serves 20,745 people in and around Evanston, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Evanston.
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 Evanston
Does Evanston have a public library?
Yes. Uinta County Library System, 701 Main St., serves 20,745 people in and around Evanston (the survey’s count) and is open about 33 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Uinta County Library System 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 Evanston’s library?
It logged 4.0 visits and lent 6.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Evanston’s civic life grade?
B+ Evanston is ahead of 69% of U.S. towns on civic life, #16 of 24 in Wyoming. 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 Evanston.
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.