Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Glendora

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
Glendora VillagePhoto: jaymanuel · CC BY-SA 4.0
Glendora Library & Cultural Center

Glendora’s library logs 3.2 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size

Glendora Library & Cultural Center serves Glendora’s 51,209 residents. Last year it lent 178K books, movies and e-books and logged 163K visits.

140 South Glendora Ave., Glendora 91741 · about 49 hours a week
CCivic lifeAhead of 28% of U.S. towns · #208 of 448 in California. Library visits, nonprofits and volunteering.
Borrowed a year
178K
3.5 per resident
Visits a year
163K
3.2 per resident · Above typical (2.6)
Programs & events
428
about 8 a week · 23K attended
Cardholders
45%
23,262 cards
Open
49 hrs
a week
In brief

What Glendora’s library is like

Kids’ books are most of what goes out

Children’s books and media make up 66% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 51% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓

A place to get online

Glendora Library & Cultural Center logs about 4,424 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 10 public computers. That’s 32 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓

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.

Civic life grade

What’s behind Glendora’s civic life grade

On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Glendora is ahead of 28% of U.S. towns, #208 of 448 in California. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; library visits come closest to the middle.

C
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Glendora’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 28%
FewerMore
California towns we grade (448)Ahead of 54%
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $85K–$142K (5,368)Ahead of 28%

Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($85K–$142K) 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.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to C+. The volunteering share is a 2022 estimate from Facebook users aged 25–44.

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 →

Places to belong

179 community nonprofits are registered in Glendora

3.5 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture130.26 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation190.37 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans250.49 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services330.65 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education250.49 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.43
Health190.37 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.16
Environment & animals80.16 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.17
Other370.73 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.47

Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (55 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 14 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.

Volunteering

5.2%

5.2% of Glendora’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 Glendora’s residents live; 2022.

How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 3.2 visits · typical 2.6Higher than 61%
Borrowing per resident 2.6 print items · typical 3.7Lower than 65%
Digital borrowing 0.9 e-items · typical 1.2Lower than 61%
Kids’ borrowing 1.7 kids’ items · typical 1.7Higher than 51%
Program attendance 0.4 attendees · typical 0.3Higher than 67%
Programs offered 8.4 per 1,000 residents · typical 14Lower than 76%
Cardholders 45% of residents · typical 39%Higher than 61%
Spending $45 per resident · typical $40Higher than 56%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Ranked in CA#52Most-used librariesof 116 towns
#76Most library borrowingof 117 towns
#72Best libraries for kidsof 117 towns
Size group

Glendora Library & Cultural Center serves 51,209 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.

A year at the library

Every hour the doors are open, about 71 items go out

Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.

163K
visits
3.2 per resident
178K
loans, print + digital
3.5 per resident
428
programs & events
23K attended
23K
library cards
45% of people served
Every open hour71items borrowed
Every week441people at a program
Every day4,424Wi-Fi sessions
20 staff (full-time equivalent)10 public computers82K books & media on the shelves
What people borrow

More than half the print loans are kids’ books

178K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.

178Kloans
Books & media (adults) 26%Kids’ books & media 49%E-books, audio & streaming 25%
How hard the shelves work
1.6×

Each of the 82K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.6 times last year, on average.

From your couch

44,911 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.

Kids & programs

About 5 kids’ programs a week

Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.

Schools in Glendora →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–5220
Ages 6–1148
Teens20
Adults44
All ages96
Little ones
4.2

story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.

Kids’ books
8

children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Glendora last year.

23K
people at programs
428
programs
The building

Find it

Glendora Library & Cultural Center, 140 South Glendora Ave., Glendora.

49
hours open a week
30,000
square feet
82K
books & media
With a card

No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.

New in Glendora? The Handbook →

Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.

What your card is worth

For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $3.30 worth

Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Glendora cardholder borrows.

In a month I’d use…
Books$17 each
1
Kids’ books$12 each
0
E-books & audio$15 each
0
Movies & music$4 each
0
Programs & classes$10 a program
0
Computer & Wi-Fi$3 a session
6
Your card saves you about
$420
a year at retail prices · $35 a month

Who pays for it
$45 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.3M.

Local taxes 89%State 1%Gifts & other 10%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $7.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.3M 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 23,262 cardholders ÷ 12.

Next door

Libraries next door

Glendora borrows the most per resident of the 3 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.

12+ loans per resident8–124–8Under 4No library / shared system
TownLibraryLoans per residentHoursCivic life
GlendoraGlendora Library & Cultural Center fine-free3.549C
CovinaCovina Public Library1.327C−
AzusaAzusa City Library fine-free0.342D−
San DimasSan Dimas Library fine-free—40C−
Charter OakCharter Oak Library fine-free—56— unincorporated
CitrusNone of its own——— unincorporated

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).

How to read these numbers

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 Glendora

Does Glendora have a public library?

Yes. Glendora Library & Cultural Center, 140 South Glendora Ave., serves Glendora’s 51,209 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 49 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Glendora Library & Cultural Center 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 Glendora’s library?

It logged 3.2 visits and lent 3.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.

What is Glendora’s civic life grade?

C Glendora is ahead of 28% of U.S. towns on civic life, #208 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 Glendora.

Town Square →
Start a conversation

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.