Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Glendale’s library logs 3.1 visits per resident, against a typical 2.1 for libraries its size
Glendale Library, Arts & Culture serves Glendale’s 191,586 residents from 8 locations. Last year it lent 887K books, movies and e-books and logged 603K visits.
Glendale’s library, in brief
Every town next door borrows more
Glendale’s library lends 4.6 items per resident. Each of the three neighboring towns with a library of its own lends more, led by Burbank at 7.3. Libraries next door ↓
Open about 66 hours a week
The main library is open about 66 hours a week, averaged over the year. Every hour the doors are open, about 57 items go out. The buildings ↓
Eight places to borrow in Glendale
Glendale’s library system runs eight locations, and one card works at all of them. The buildings ↓
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.
What’s behind Glendale’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Glendale is ahead of 30% of U.S. towns, #202 of 448 in California. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #168. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; library visits come closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($66K–$110K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
611 community nonprofits are registered in Glendale
3.2 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: arts & culture.
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 (183 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 80 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.2%
6.2% of Glendale’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 5.9% in the typical California 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 Glendale’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Glendale Library, Arts & Culture serves 191,586 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 57 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
887K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 424K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.6 times last year, on average.
188,605 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 17 kids’ programs a week
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 Glendale last year.
8 places to borrow in Glendale
Glendale Library, Arts & Culture, 222 E. Harvard St., Glendale.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Glendale? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Glendale
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.08 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Glendale cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $13M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $15M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $13M 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 95,703 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Glendale ranks 4th of 4 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burbank | Burbank Public Library fine-free | 7.3 | 58 | B− |
| Los Angeles | Central Library fine-free | 6.7 | 57 | D |
| Pasadena | Hastings Branch Library fine-free | 4.9 | 54 | B |
| Glendale | Glendale Library, Arts & Culture fine-free | 4.6 | 66 | C |
| La Crescenta-Montrose | La Crescenta Library fine-free | — | 60 | — unincorporated |
| La Cañada Flintridge | La Canada Flintridge Library fine-free | — | 40 | A− |
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.
- 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 Glendale
Does Glendale have a public library?
Yes. Glendale Library, Arts & Culture, 222 E. Harvard St., serves Glendale’s 191,586 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 66 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Glendale Library, Arts & Culture 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 Glendale’s library?
It logged 3.1 visits and lent 4.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Glendale’s civic life grade?
C Glendale is ahead of 30% of U.S. towns on civic life, #202 of 448 in California. 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 Glendale.
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.