John and Cynthia Garwood Farmstead · Photo: Nyttend · Public domainCenter Township’s library logs 2.9 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
La Porte County Public Library serves 65,522 people in and around Center Township. Last year it lent 447K books, movies and e-books and logged 191K visits.
What Center Township’s library is like
42% of borrowing happens on a screen
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 42% of loans, more per resident than at 86% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 58%, much of it kids’ books. What people borrow ↓
A well-funded system
La Porte County Public Library spends $89 per resident a year, about twice the typical $40 for a library its size. Almost all of it (91%) comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
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; La Porte County Public Library serves 65,522 people in and around Center Township, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Center Township’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Center Township is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns, #186 of 571 in Indiana. Center Township is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Center Township’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
89 community nonprofits are registered in Center Township
3.5 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 (24 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
10.4%
10.4% of Center 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 Center Township’s residents live; 2022.
42% of borrowing is digital
447K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
186,728 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
La Porte County Public Library serves 65,522 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 29 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole La Porte County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
About 8 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
La Porte County Public Library, 904 Indiana Ave., La Porte.
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 La Porte County Public Library branch.
New in Center Township? 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 $1.21 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Center Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $5.8M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $7M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $5.8M 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 37,694 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Center Township | La Porte County Public Library fine-free | — | 61 | B+ |
| Coolspring Township | Coolspring Branch Library fine-free | — | 57 | C+ |
| Kankakee Township | Rolling Prairie Branch Library fine-free | — | 34 | B+ |
| Scipio Township | None of its own | — | — | B− |
| Springfield 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. La Porte County Public Library serves 65,522 people in and around Center Township, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Center Township.
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 Center Township
Does Center Township have a public library?
Yes. La Porte County Public Library, 904 Indiana Ave., serves 65,522 people in and around Center Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 61 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is La Porte County 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 Center Township’s library?
It logged 2.9 visits and lent 6.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Center Township’s civic life grade?
B+ Center Township is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns on civic life, #186 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 Center Township.
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.