Photo: Chris Flook · CC BY-SA 4.0Charlestown’s library lends 4.8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Charlestown-Clark County Public Library serves 59,624 people in and around Charlestown. Last year it lent 367K books, movies and e-books and logged 99K visits.
What stands out about Charlestown-Clark County Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Charlestown’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Charlestown is ahead of 54% of U.S. towns, #298 of 571 in Indiana. Charlestown is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Charlestown’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 →
20 community nonprofits are registered in Charlestown
2.4 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 (7 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
10.8%
10.8% of Charlestown’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 Charlestown’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Charlestown-Clark County Public Library serves 59,624 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 Charlestown-Clark County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
367K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
81,577 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 4 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
Charlestown-Clark County Public Library, 51 Clark Road, Charlestown.
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 Charlestown-Clark County Public Library branch.
New in Charlestown? 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 $3.06 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Charlestown cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.9M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $5.7M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.9M 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 13,095 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charlestown | Charlestown-Clark County Public Library fine-free | — | 60 | B− |
| Jeffersonville | Jeffersonville Township Public Library fine-free | — | 60 | C |
| Charlestown Township | Charlestown-Clark County Public Library fine-free | — | 60 | B− |
| Utica 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. Charlestown-Clark County Public Library serves 59,624 people in and around Charlestown, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Charlestown.
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 Charlestown
Does Charlestown have a public library?
Yes. Charlestown-Clark County Public Library, 51 Clark Road, serves 59,624 people in and around Charlestown (the survey’s count) and is open about 60 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Charlestown-Clark 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 Charlestown’s library?
It logged 1.7 visits and lent 6.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Charlestown’s civic life grade?
B− Charlestown is ahead of 54% of U.S. towns on civic life, #298 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 Charlestown.
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.