Photo: IvoShandor · CC BY 2.5Lena’s library runs 7.1 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Lena Community District Library serves 5,077 people in and around Lena. Last year it lent 22K books, movies and e-books and logged 7,400 visits.
What Lena’s library is like
Few programs for a library this size
Lena Community District Library offered 36 programs last year, 7.1 per 1,000 residents against a typical 34. Kids & programs ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 10% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 42% for its size. How it compares ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 64% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 68% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
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; Lena Community District Library serves 5,077 people in and around Lena, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Lena’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Lena is ahead of 72% of U.S. towns, #169 of 754 in Illinois. Lena is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups ranks highest.
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 Lena
4.0 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
9.5%
9.5% of Lena’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.1% in the typical Illinois 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 Lena’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Lena Community District Library serves 5,077 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 9 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Lena Community District Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
22K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
3,072 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
36 programs a year
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
Lena Community District Library, 300 West Mason Street, Lena.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Good at every Lena Community District Library branch.
New in Lena? 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 $1.99 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Lena cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $163K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $323K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $163K 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 510 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.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lena | Lena Community District Library | — | 48 | B+ |
| Erin Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Kent Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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.
- System-wide. Lena Community District Library serves 5,077 people in and around Lena, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Lena.
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 Lena
Does Lena have a public library?
Yes. Lena Community District Library, 300 West Mason Street, serves 5,077 people in and around Lena (the survey’s count) and is open about 48 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lena Community District 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 Lena’s library?
It logged 1.5 visits and lent 4.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Lena’s civic life grade?
B+ Lena is ahead of 72% of U.S. towns on civic life, #169 of 754 in Illinois. 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 Lena.
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.