Woman's Club of Lincoln · Photo: T71024 · CC BY-SA 3.0Lincoln’s library logs 4.8 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Lincoln Public Library serves Lincoln’s 53,231 residents. Last year it lent 402K books, movies and e-books and logged 254K visits.
Lincoln’s library, in brief
Busy on a lean budget
Lincoln Public Library spends $20 per resident, less than 80% of similar-size libraries (typical: $40). It’s still busier than 78% of them. What your card is worth ↓
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 84% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Most programs are for young children
68% of the 384 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 1.5 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
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 Lincoln’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Lincoln is ahead of 61% of U.S. towns, #114 of 448 in California. Library visits hold the grade up; Lincoln’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
184 community nonprofits are registered in Lincoln
3.5 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 (51 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 6 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
8.1%
8.1% of Lincoln’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 Lincoln’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 214 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
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.
Lincoln Public Library serves 53,231 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
402K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 114K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.8 times last year, on average.
79,052 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 5 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 Lincoln last year.
Find it
Twelve Bridges, 485 Twelve Bridges Drive, Lincoln.
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 Lincoln? 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 $5.39 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Lincoln cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $5.7M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.1M 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 23,119 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
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 Lincoln
Does Lincoln have a public library?
Yes. Lincoln Public Library, 485 Twelve Bridges Drive, serves Lincoln’s 53,231 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 37 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lincoln Public Library 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 Lincoln’s library?
It logged 4.8 visits and lent 7.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Lincoln’s civic life grade?
B Lincoln is ahead of 61% of U.S. towns on civic life, #114 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 Lincoln.
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.