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Clinton D. Gilson BarnClinton D. Gilson Barn · Photo: Chris Light at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0
Hebron Public Library · part of Porter County Public Library System

Boone Township’s library is a branch of Porter County Public Library System, which lends more per resident than 71% of systems its size

Boone Township’s library is the Hebron Public Library, a branch of Porter County Public Library System, which serves 152,580 people and lent 1.2M items last year.

201 West Sigler Street, Hebron 46341 · about 57 hours a week
B−Civic lifeAhead of 48% of U.S. towns · #344 of 571 in Indiana. Nonprofits and volunteering.
Borrowed a year
1.2M
7.7 per resident
Visits a year
438K
2.9 per resident · Above typical (2.1)
Programs & events
1,291
about 25 a week · 34K attended
Cardholders
40%
60,759 cards
Open
57 hrs
a week at this branch

What stands out about Hebron Public Library

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

Civic life grade

What’s behind Boone Township’s civic life grade

On community nonprofits and volunteering, Boone Township is ahead of 48% of U.S. towns, #344 of 571 in Indiana. Boone Township is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Boone Township’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.

B−
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Boone Township’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 48%
FewerMore
Indiana towns we grade (571)Ahead of 40%
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $56K–$93K (9,282)Ahead of 46%

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. Boone Township is small (6,149 residents), so a few dozen organizations or visits move its per-resident figures; 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

13 community nonprofits are registered in Boone Township

2.2 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture10.20 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation10.10 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans30.48 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services50.75 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education10.20 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.43
Health10.10 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.16
Environment & animals10.10 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.17
Other20.28 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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.

Volunteering

10.4%

10.4% of Boone Township’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 Boone Township’s residents live; 2022.

How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures

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

Visits per resident 2.9 visits · typical 2.1Higher than 73%
Borrowing per resident 5.1 print items · typical 3.2Higher than 71%
Digital borrowing 2.6 e-items · typical 1.4Higher than 74%
Kids’ borrowing 2.5 kids’ items · typical 1.6Higher than 68%
Program attendance 0.2 attendees · typical 0.2Higher than 53%
Programs offered 8.5 per 1,000 residents · typical 9Lower than 56%
Cardholders 40% of residents · typical 41%Lower than 52%
Spending $44 per resident · typical $36Higher than 59%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

Porter County Public Library System serves 152,580 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.

A year at the library

Every hour the doors are open, about 73 items go out

Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Porter County Public Library System system. The library’s own count.

438K
visits
2.9 per resident
1.2M
loans, print + digital
7.7 per resident
1,291
programs & events
34K attended
61K
library cards
40% of people served
Every open hour73items borrowed
Every week645people at a program
Every day338Wi-Fi sessions
72 staff (full-time equivalent)52 public computers
What people borrow

Almost half the print loans are kids’ books

1.2M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.

1.2Mloans
Books & media (adults) 34%Kids’ books & media 32%E-books, audio & streaming 34%
From your couch

396,016 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 18 kids’ programs a week

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

Schools in Boone Township →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–5673
Ages 6–11243
Teens86
Adults161
All ages128
Little ones
12.9

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

376K
kids’ books & media borrowed
34K
people at programs
1,291
programs
The building

Find it

Hebron Public Library, 201 West Sigler Street, Hebron.

57
hours open a week
12,800
square feet
With a card

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 Porter County Public Library System branch.

New in Boone Township? 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 $2.68 worth

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

In a month I’d use…
Books$17 each
1
Kids’ books$12 each
1
E-books & audio$15 each
1
Movies & music$4 each
0
Programs & classes$10 a program
0
Computer & Wi-Fi$3 a session
0
Your card saves you about
$528
a year at retail prices · $44 a month

Who pays for it
$44 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $6.7M.

Local taxes 87%State 8%Gifts & other 5%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $18M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $6.7M 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 60,759 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
Boone TownshipHebron Public Library fine-free—57B−
Pleasant TownshipKouts Public Library fine-free—57B+
Winfield TownshipWinfield Branch Library fine-free—43C
Keener TownshipDemotte Branch fine-free—56C+
Eagle Creek TownshipNone of its own——B−
Porter TownshipNone of its own——C+
Morgan TownshipNone 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).

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.

  • System-wide. Hebron Public Library is one branch of Porter County Public Library System, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 152,580 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 Boone Township

Does Boone Township have a public library?

Yes: Hebron Public Library, 201 West Sigler Street, is a branch of Porter County Public Library System, which serves 152,580 people. The branch is open about 57 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Porter County Public Library System 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 Boone Township’s library?

It logged 2.9 visits and lent 7.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.

What is Boone Township’s civic life grade?

B− Boone Township is ahead of 48% of U.S. towns on civic life, #344 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 Boone Township.

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.