Middletown’s library is a branch of Lake County Library, which lends less per resident than 68% of systems its size
Middletown’s library is the Middletown Library, a branch of Lake County Library, which serves 67,001 people and lent 232K items last year.
What stands out about Middletown Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Middletown’s civic life grade
Middletown isn’t graded on civic life: it’s unincorporated, so its nonprofits can’t be counted reliably (mailing addresses don’t follow its boundary) and its library is a branch of Lake County Library, so there is no town figure for visits.
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 →
Volunteering in Middletown
Middletown is unincorporated, so its nonprofits aren’t counted: they file by mailing address, which doesn’t follow its boundary.
14.1%
14.1% of Middletown’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 Middletown’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Lake County Library serves 67,001 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
A year at Lake County Library
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Lake County Library system. The library’s own count.
Not reported for 2024: visits. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
232K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
73,687 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
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.
Find it
Middletown Library, 21256 Washington Street, Middletown.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Lake County Library branch.
New in Middletown? 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 $2.01 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Middletown cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.8M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.8M 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 28,984 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Not reported for 2024: visits. Lake County Library didn’t report visits; the survey’s estimate is its own, so we leave it out and never rank it.
- System-wide. Middletown Library is one branch of Lake County Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 67,001 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 Middletown
Does Middletown have a public library?
Yes: Middletown Library, 21256 Washington Street, is a branch of Lake County Library, which serves 67,001 people. The branch is open about 33 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lake County 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 Middletown’s library?
It lent 3.5 items per resident in 2024 (print and digital) and ran 829 programs that drew 8,401 people. Visits weren’t reported for 2024.
What is Middletown’s civic life grade?
Middletown isn’t graded on civic life: it’s unincorporated, so its nonprofits can’t be counted reliably (mailing addresses don’t follow its boundary) and its library is a branch of Lake County Library, so there is no town figure for visits. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Middletown.
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.