Photo: Chris Flook · CC BY-SA 4.0Fairmount Township’s library lends 1.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Fairmount Public Library serves 3,986 people in and around Fairmount Township. Last year it lent 8,348 books, movies and e-books and logged 7,747 visits.
What stands out about Fairmount Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Fairmount Township’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Fairmount Township is ahead of 38% of U.S. towns, #417 of 571 in Indiana. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($50K–$83K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
13 community nonprofits are registered in Fairmount Township
3.3 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 (10 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
8.9%
8.9% of Fairmount 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 Fairmount Township’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Fairmount Public Library serves 3,986 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 4 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Fairmount Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
8,348 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
2,034 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
151 programs a year
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
Fairmount Public Library, 217 South Main Street, Fairmount.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Fairmount Public Library branch.
New in Fairmount 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 $1.42 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Fairmount Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $113K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $160K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $113K budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
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 3,069 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jefferson Township | Upland Public Library | 7.6 | 30 | C |
| Mill Township | Jonesboro Public Library | 0.6 | 35 | C+ |
| Fairmount Township | Fairmount Public Library | — | 39 | C+ |
| Van Buren Township | Ralph E Hazelbaker Library fine-free | — | 49 | B+ |
| Liberty Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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. Fairmount Public Library serves 3,986 people in and around Fairmount Township, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Fairmount 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 Fairmount Township
Does Fairmount Township have a public library?
Yes. Fairmount Public Library, 217 South Main Street, serves 3,986 people in and around Fairmount Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 39 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Fairmount Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Fairmount Township’s library?
It logged 1.9 visits and lent 2.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Fairmount Township’s civic life grade?
C+ Fairmount Township is ahead of 38% of U.S. towns on civic life, #417 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 Fairmount 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.