Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Lexington’s library lends 11 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Lexington - Burchell Campbell Memorial Library serves Lexington’s 734 residents. Last year it lent 8,422 books, movies and e-books and logged 3,319 visits.
Lexington’s library, in brief
More library cards than residents
2,296 cards for 734 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
44% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 30%. What your card is worth ↓
A small-town library
Lexington - Burchell Campbell Memorial Library serves 734 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 37 hours a week. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
Kids borrow more here than almost anywhere
Children’s books and media are 47% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 89% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 20 items per child in Lexington last year. Kids & programs ↓
Lexington is a town of borrowers
Lexington - Burchell Campbell Memorial Library lends 11 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries serving under 2,500 people, more than 88% 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Lexington’s civic life grade
Lexington isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Lexington - Burchell Campbell Memorial Library serves 734 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 4 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
8,422 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 16K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.5 time last year, on average.
478 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
67 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Lexington last year.
Find it
Lexington Public Library, 11075 Highway 101, Lexington.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Lexington? 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 $2.47 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Lexington cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $56K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $139K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $56K 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 2,296 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Lexington
Does Lexington have a public library?
Yes. Lexington - Burchell Campbell Memorial Library, 11075 Highway 101, serves Lexington’s 734 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 37 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lexington - Burchell Campbell Memorial 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 Lexington’s library?
It logged 4.5 visits and lent 11.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Lexington’s civic life grade?
Lexington isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Lexington.
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.