Photo: Chris Flook · CC BY-SA 4.0Dale’s library runs 60 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Lincoln Heritage Public Library serves 11,000 people in and around Dale. Last year it lent 77K books, movies and e-books and logged 38K visits.
What stands out about Lincoln Heritage Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Dale’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Dale is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns. Dale is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups ranks highest.
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 →
6 community nonprofits are registered in Dale
4.1 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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.1%
9.1% of Dale’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 Dale’s residents live; 2022.
About 5 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Lincoln Heritage Public Library serves 11,000 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 17 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Lincoln Heritage Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
77K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
22,005 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Lincoln Heritage Public Library, 105 Wallace Street, Dale.
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 Lincoln Heritage Public Library branch.
New in Dale? 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 $2.19 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Dale cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $549K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $549K 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 2,894 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Lincoln Heritage Public Library serves 11,000 people in and around Dale, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Dale.
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 Dale
Does Dale have a public library?
Yes. Lincoln Heritage Public Library, 105 Wallace Street, serves 11,000 people in and around Dale (the survey’s count) and is open about 55 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lincoln Heritage 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 Dale’s library?
It logged 3.5 visits and lent 7.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Dale’s civic life grade?
B+ Dale is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Dale.
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.