Photo: Billwhittaker (Uploads) · CC BY-SA 3.0Aplington’s library runs 114 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60 for libraries its size
Aplington Legion Memorial Library serves Aplington’s 2,152 residents. Last year it lent 14K print books and media and logged 7,854 visits.
What Aplington’s library is like
More library cards than residents
2,245 cards for 2,152 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 ↓
A small-town library
Aplington Legion Memorial Library serves 2,152 residents with about 2 full-time staff, open about 40 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 ↓
Programs lean toward adults
51% of the 245 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 86 were for children. 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Aplington’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Aplington is ahead of 58% of U.S. towns. Aplington is graded on two of the three inputs. Aplington’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups 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 →
11 community nonprofits are registered in Aplington
9.9 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (6 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.1%
5.1% of Aplington’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.6% in the typical Iowa 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 Aplington’s residents live; 2022.
About 2 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 Aplington last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Aplington Legion Memorial Library serves 2,152 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 7 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
14K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 19K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.7 time last year, on average.
Find it
Aplington Legion Memorial Library, 929 Parriott St., Aplington.
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 $3.29 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Aplington cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $78K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $258K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $78K 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 2,245 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Digital loans not reported. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
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 Aplington
Does Aplington have a public library?
Yes. Aplington Legion Memorial Library, 929 Parriott St., serves Aplington’s 2,152 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Aplington Legion Memorial Library fine-free?
It charges late fines on some overdue items (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Aplington’s library?
It logged 3.6 visits and lent 6.4 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Aplington’s civic life grade?
B Aplington is ahead of 58% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Aplington.
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.