Photo: Nyttend · Public domainAnderson’s library logs 3.8 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Anderson Public Library serves 69,817 people in and around Anderson. Last year it lent 514K books, movies and e-books and logged 264K visits.
What stands out about Anderson Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Anderson’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Anderson is ahead of 46% of U.S. towns, #360 of 571 in Indiana. Anderson is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Anderson’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
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 →
205 community nonprofits are registered in Anderson
3.7 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 (117 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 7 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.4%
7.4% of Anderson’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 9.1% in the typical Indiana 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 Anderson’s residents live; 2022.
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.
Anderson Public Library serves 69,817 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 106 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Anderson Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
514K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
190,653 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 9 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
Anderson Public Library, 111 East 12th Street, Anderson.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Anderson Public Library branch.
New in Anderson? 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 $1.52 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Anderson cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $5.5M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $8.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $5.5M 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 32,815 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anderson | Anderson Public Library fine-free | — | 65 | B− |
| Pendleton | Pendleton Community Public Library fine-free | — | 62 | B+ |
| Anderson Township | Anderson Public Library fine-free | — | 65 | — graded with its twin city |
| Fall Creek Township | Pendleton Community Public Library fine-free | — | 62 | B |
| Stony Creek Township | Lapel Branch Library fine-free | — | 28 | B− |
| Edgewood | None of its own | — | — | C |
| River Forest | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Adams Township | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| Chesterfield | None of its own | — | — | C |
| Union Township | None of its own | — | — | C |
| Lafayette Township | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
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. Anderson Public Library serves 69,817 people in and around Anderson, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Anderson.
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 Anderson
Does Anderson have a public library?
Yes. Anderson Public Library, 111 East 12th Street, serves 69,817 people in and around Anderson (the survey’s count) and is open about 65 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Anderson 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 Anderson’s library?
It logged 3.8 visits and lent 7.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Anderson’s civic life grade?
B− Anderson is ahead of 46% of U.S. towns on civic life, #360 of 571 in Indiana. 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 Anderson.
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.