Photo: User:Mingusboodle · Public domainFranklin Township’s library is a branch of Indianapolis Public Library, which lends more per resident than 77% of systems its size
Franklin Township’s library is the Franklin Road Branch Library, a branch of Indianapolis Public Library, which serves 963,251 people and lent 8.7M items last year.
What stands out about Franklin Road Branch Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Franklin Township’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Franklin Township is ahead of 31% of U.S. towns, #472 of 571 in Indiana. Franklin Township is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Franklin Township’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($73K–$122K) 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 →
157 community nonprofits are registered in Franklin Township
2.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (61 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 11 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.9%
7.9% of Franklin 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 Franklin Township’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Indianapolis Public Library serves 963,251 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 138 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Indianapolis Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
8.7M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
3,218,547 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 86 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
Franklin Road Branch Library, 5550 South Franklin Road, Indianapolis.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Indianapolis Public Library branch.
New in Franklin 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 $2.45 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Franklin Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $6M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $148M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $6M 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 289,752 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greenwood | Greenwood Public Library fine-free | 10.1 | 58 | B |
| Pleasant Township | Greenwood Public Library fine-free | 10.1 | 58 | B− |
| Franklin Township | Franklin Road Branch Library fine-free | — | 51 | C |
| Warren Township | Irvington Branch Library fine-free | — | 51 | C |
| Perry Township | Southport Branch Library fine-free | — | 55 | D |
| Indianapolis | Indianapolis Public Library fine-free | — | 54 | B− |
| Beech Grove | Beech Grove Branch Library fine-free | — | 51 | C |
| Sugar Creek Township | Sugar Creek Branch | — | 64 | C+ |
| Center Township | Indianapolis Public Library fine-free | — | 54 | A− |
| Moral Township | None of its own | — | — | B |
| Clark 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. Franklin Road Branch Library is one branch of Indianapolis Public Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 963,251 people it serves.
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 Franklin Township
Does Franklin Township have a public library?
Yes: Franklin Road Branch Library, 5550 South Franklin Road, is a branch of Indianapolis Public Library, which serves 963,251 people. The branch is open about 51 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Indianapolis 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 Franklin Township’s library?
It logged 2.5 visits and lent 9.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Franklin Township’s civic life grade?
C Franklin Township is ahead of 31% of U.S. towns on civic life, #472 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 Franklin 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.