Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Crawfordsville

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
Montgomery County Courthouse, 2018Photo: NathanielCwebb1996 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Crawfordsville District Public Library

Crawfordsville’s library logs 4 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size

Crawfordsville District Public Library serves 25,087 people in and around Crawfordsville from 2 locations. Last year it lent 150K books, movies and e-books and logged 100K visits.

205 South Washington Street, Crawforsdsville 47933 · about 68 hours a week
BCivic lifeAhead of 57% of U.S. towns · #274 of 571 in Indiana. Nonprofits and volunteering.
Borrowed a year
150K
6 per resident
Visits a year
100K
4 per resident · Above typical (2.6)
Programs & events
484
about 9 a week · 9,599 attended
Cardholders
23%
5,782 cards
Open
68 hrs
a week at this branch

What stands out about Crawfordsville District Public Library

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

Civic life grade

What’s behind Crawfordsville’s civic life grade

On community nonprofits and volunteering, Crawfordsville is ahead of 57% of U.S. towns, #274 of 571 in Indiana. Crawfordsville is graded on two of the three inputs. Crawfordsville’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.

B
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Crawfordsville’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 57%
FewerMore
Indiana towns we grade (571)Ahead of 52%
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $41K–$69K (6,372)Ahead of 53%

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

75 community nonprofits are registered in Crawfordsville

4.6 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture80.49 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation80.49 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans191.18 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services120.73 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education100.58 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.43
Health60.34 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.16
Environment & animals40.25 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.17
Other80.52 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 (19 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.

Volunteering

7.3%

7.3% of Crawfordsville’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 Crawfordsville’s residents live; 2022.

How it compares

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.

Visits per resident 4 visits · typical 2.6Higher than 76%
Borrowing per resident 4 print items · typical 3.7Higher than 53%
Digital borrowing 2 e-items · typical 1.2Higher than 72%
Kids’ borrowing 1.5 kids’ items · typical 1.7Lower than 54%
Program attendance 0.4 attendees · typical 0.3Higher than 59%
Programs offered 19.3 per 1,000 residents · typical 14Higher than 66%
Cardholders 23% of residents · typical 39%Lower than 82%
Spending $76 per resident · typical $40Higher than 82%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

Crawfordsville District Public Library serves 25,087 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 30 items go out

Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Crawfordsville District Public Library system. The library’s own count.

100K
visits
4 per resident
150K
loans, print + digital
6 per resident
484
programs & events
9,599 attended
5,782
library cards
23% of people served
Every open hour30items borrowed
Every week185people at a program
Every day91Wi-Fi sessions
24 staff (full-time equivalent)14 public computers
What people borrow

Mostly books and media off the shelf

150K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.

150Kloans
Books & media (adults) 42%Kids’ books & media 26%E-books, audio & streaming 33%
From your couch

49,164 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 Crawfordsville →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–5177
Ages 6–11127
Teens38
Adults117
All ages25
Little ones
3.4

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

39K
kids’ books & media borrowed
9,599
people at programs
484
programs
The buildings

2 places to borrow in Crawfordsville

Crawfordsville District Public Library, 205 South Washington Street, Crawforsdsville.

68
hours open a week
62,000
square feet
With a card

No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Crawfordsville District Public Library branch.

New in Crawfordsville? The Handbook →

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

Other Crawfordsville District Public Library branches in Crawfordsville

What your card is worth

For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.30 worth

Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Crawfordsville 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
$76 per resident a year

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

Local taxes 89%State 4%Federal 1%Gifts & other 7%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.5M 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 5,782 cardholders ÷ 12.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.

  • System-wide. Crawfordsville District Public Library serves 25,087 people in and around Crawfordsville, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Crawfordsville.

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 Crawfordsville

Does Crawfordsville have a public library?

Yes. Crawfordsville District Public Library, 205 South Washington Street, serves 25,087 people in and around Crawfordsville (the survey’s count) and is open about 68 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Crawfordsville District 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 Crawfordsville’s library?

It logged 4.0 visits and lent 6.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.

What is Crawfordsville’s civic life grade?

B Crawfordsville is ahead of 57% of U.S. towns on civic life, #274 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 Crawfordsville.

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.