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Avon-Washington Township Public Library

Avon’s library logs 3.7 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size

Avon-Washington Township Public Library serves 57,176 people in and around Avon. Last year it lent 234K books, movies and e-books and logged 210K visits.

498 N Avon Avenue, Avon 46123 · about 63 hours a week
B−Civic lifeAhead of 46% of U.S. towns · #366 of 571 in Indiana. Nonprofits and volunteering.
Borrowed a year
234K
4.1 per resident
Visits a year
210K
3.7 per resident · Above typical (2.6)
Programs & events
505
about 10 a week · 9,660 attended
Cardholders
38%
21,485 cards
Open
63 hrs
a week at this branch

What stands out about Avon-Washington Township Public Library

Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.

Civic life grade

What’s behind Avon’s civic life grade

On community nonprofits and volunteering, Avon is ahead of 46% of U.S. towns, #366 of 571 in Indiana. Avon is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Avon’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.

B−
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Avon’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 46%
FewerMore
Indiana towns we grade (571)Ahead of 36%
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $74K–$123K (7,297)Ahead of 48%

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.

How sure. Graded on two inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The volunteering share is a 2022 estimate from Facebook users aged 25–44.

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 →

Places to belong

51 community nonprofits are registered in Avon

2.2 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture40.19 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation120.51 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans70.29 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services90.39 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education100.41 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.43
Health30.14 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.16
Environment & animals10.04 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.17
Other50.21 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.47

Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (16 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 5 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.

Volunteering

10.0%

10.0% of Avon’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 Avon’s residents live; 2022.

How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 3.7 visits · typical 2.6Higher than 71%
Borrowing per resident 3.3 print items · typical 3.7Lower than 56%
Digital borrowing 0.8 e-items · typical 1.2Lower than 64%
Kids’ borrowing 2 kids’ items · typical 1.7Higher than 56%
Program attendance 0.2 attendees · typical 0.3Lower than 78%
Programs offered 8.8 per 1,000 residents · typical 14Lower than 74%
Cardholders 38% of residents · typical 39%Lower than 53%
Spending $33 per resident · typical $40Lower than 59%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

Avon-Washington Township Public Library serves 57,176 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.

A year at the library

Every hour the doors are open, about 71 items go out

Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Avon-Washington Township Public Library system. The library’s own count.

210K
visits
3.7 per resident
234K
loans, print + digital
4.1 per resident
505
programs & events
9,660 attended
21K
library cards
38% of people served
Every open hour71items borrowed
Every week186people at a program
Every day532Wi-Fi sessions
19 staff (full-time equivalent)23 public computers
What people borrow

More than half the print loans are kids’ books

234K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.

234Kloans
Books & media (adults) 32%Kids’ books & media 48%E-books, audio & streaming 20%
From your couch

46,253 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.

Kids & programs

About 6 kids’ programs a week

Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.

Schools in Avon →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–5138
Ages 6–11168
Teens88
Adults106
All ages5
Little ones
2.7

story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.

113K
kids’ books & media borrowed
9,660
people at programs
505
programs
The building

Find it

Avon-Washington Township Public Library, 498 N Avon Avenue, Avon.

63
hours open a week
42,515
square feet
With a card

E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Avon-Washington Township Public Library branch.

New in Avon? The Handbook →

Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.

What your card is worth

For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.10 worth

Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Avon cardholder borrows.

In a month I’d use…
Books$17 each
1
Kids’ books$12 each
0
E-books & audio$15 each
0
Movies & music$4 each
0
Programs & classes$10 a program
0
Computer & Wi-Fi$3 a session
1
Your card saves you about
$240
a year at retail prices · $20 a month

Who pays for it
$33 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.9M.

Local taxes 91%State 4%Gifts & other 5%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.9M 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 21,485 cardholders ÷ 12.

Next door

Libraries next door

Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.

12+ loans per resident8–124–8Under 4No library / shared system
TownLibraryLoans per residentHoursCivic life
AvonAvon-Washington Township Public Library—63B−
PlainfieldPlainfield-Guilford Township Public Library fine-free—65B+
Washington TownshipAvon-Washington Township Public Library—63B−
Lincoln TownshipBrownsburg Public Library—65B
Guilford TownshipPlainfield-Guilford Township Public Library fine-free—65B+
BrownsburgBrownsburg Public Library—65A−
Center TownshipDanville-Center Township Public Library fine-free—56A
Liberty TownshipClayton-Liberty Township Public Library fine-free—38C
Middle TownshipNone of its own——B−

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).

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.

  • System-wide. Avon-Washington Township Public Library serves 57,176 people in and around Avon, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Avon.

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 Avon

Does Avon have a public library?

Yes. Avon-Washington Township Public Library, 498 N Avon Avenue, serves 57,176 people in and around Avon (the survey’s count) and is open about 63 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Avon-Washington Township Public 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 Avon’s library?

It logged 3.7 visits and lent 4.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.

What is Avon’s civic life grade?

B− Avon is ahead of 46% of U.S. towns on civic life, #366 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 Avon.

Town Square →
Start a conversation

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.