Photo: Vasiliymeshko · CC BY-SA 4.0Rawlins’ library is a branch of Carbon County Library System, which lends less per resident than 63% of systems its size
Rawlins’s library is the Rawlins Library, a branch of Carbon County Library System, which serves 14,334 people and lent 62K items last year.
What stands out about Rawlins Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Rawlins’ civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Rawlins is ahead of 80% of U.S. towns, #12 of 24 in Wyoming. Rawlins is graded on two of the three inputs. Rawlins’ 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 →
65 community nonprofits are registered in Rawlins
8.0 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.5%
7.5% of Rawlins’ 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 Rawlins’ residents live; 2022.
About 8 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Carbon County Library System serves 14,334 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 8 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Carbon County Library System system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
62K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
20,678 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Rawlins Library, 215 W Buffalo St., Rawlins.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Carbon County Library System branch.
New in Rawlins? 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 $1.90 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Rawlins cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $545K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $545K 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 5,992 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Rawlins Library is one branch of Carbon County Library System, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 14,334 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 Rawlins
Does Rawlins have a public library?
Yes: Rawlins Library, 215 W Buffalo St., is a branch of Carbon County Library System, which serves 14,334 people. The branch is open about 43 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Carbon County Library System 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 Rawlins’ library?
It logged 3.2 visits and lent 4.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Rawlins’ civic life grade?
A− Rawlins is ahead of 80% of U.S. towns on civic life, #12 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 Rawlins.
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.