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Gas City-Mill Township Public Library

Gas City’s library runs 15 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size

Gas City-Mill Township Public Library serves 8,981 people in and around Gas City. Last year it lent 44K books, movies and e-books and logged 19K visits.

135 East Main Street, Gas City 46933 · about 49 hours a week
BCivic lifeAhead of 58% of U.S. towns · #271 of 571 in Indiana. Nonprofits and volunteering.
Borrowed a year
44K
4.9 per resident
Visits a year
19K
2.1 per resident · Below typical (3)
Programs & events
135
about 3 a week · 3,213 attended
Cardholders
31%
2,825 cards
Open
49 hrs
a week at this branch

What stands out about Gas City-Mill Township Public Library

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

Civic life grade

What’s behind Gas City’s civic life grade

On community nonprofits and volunteering, Gas City is ahead of 58% of U.S. towns, #271 of 571 in Indiana. Gas City 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.

B
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Gas City’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 58%
FewerMore
Indiana towns we grade (571)Ahead of 53%
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $42K–$70K (6,632)Ahead of 54%

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. Gas City is small (6,081 residents), so a few dozen organizations or visits move its per-resident figures; 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

24 community nonprofits are registered in Gas City

4.0 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 & culture40.61 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation50.76 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans61.07 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services30.46 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education30.46 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.43
Health10.15 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.16
Environment & animals00.00 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.17
Other30.46 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 (7 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.

Volunteering

8.0%

8.0% of Gas City’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 Gas City’s residents live; 2022.

How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 2.1 visits · typical 3Lower than 65%
Borrowing per resident 2.9 print items · typical 3.8Lower than 63%
Digital borrowing 1.9 e-items · typical 1Higher than 75%
Kids’ borrowing 1.4 kids’ items · typical 1.6Lower than 57%
Program attendance 0.4 attendees · typical 0.5Lower than 62%
Programs offered 15 per 1,000 residents · typical 34Lower than 77%
Cardholders 31% of residents · typical 42%Lower than 68%
Spending $70 per resident · typical $43Higher than 78%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

Gas City-Mill Township Public Library serves 8,981 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.

A year at the library

Every hour the doors are open, about 17 items go out

Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Gas City-Mill Township Public Library system. The library’s own count.

19K
visits
2.1 per resident
44K
loans, print + digital
4.9 per resident
135
programs & events
3,213 attended
2,825
library cards
31% of people served
Every open hour17items borrowed
Every week62people at a program
Every day26Wi-Fi sessions
8 staff (full-time equivalent)6 public computers
What people borrow

40% of borrowing is digital

44K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.

44Kloans
Books & media (adults) 32%Kids’ books & media 28%E-books, audio & streaming 40%
From your couch

17,463 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 1 kids’ program a week

Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.

Schools in Gas City →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–546
Ages 6–1117
Teens45
Adults21
All ages6
Little ones
0.9

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

12K
kids’ books & media borrowed
3,213
people at programs
135
programs
The building

Find it

Gas City-Mill Township Public Library, 135 East Main Street, Gas City.

49
hours open a week
11,065
square feet
With a card

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

New in Gas City? The Handbook →

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

What your card is worth

For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.12 worth

Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Gas City cardholder borrows.

In a month I’d use…
Books$17 each
1
Kids’ books$12 each
0
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
$384
a year at retail prices · $32 a month

Who pays for it
$70 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $631K.

Local taxes 89%State 6%Gifts & other 5%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $710K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $631K 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 2,825 cardholders ÷ 12.

Next door

Libraries next door

Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.

12+ loans per resident8–124–8Under 4No library / shared system
TownLibraryLoans per residentHoursCivic life
Center TownshipMarion Public Library fine-free5.355C+
JonesboroJonesboro Public Library0.635A
Mill TownshipJonesboro Public Library0.635C+
Gas CityGas City-Mill Township Public Library fine-free—49B

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).

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.

  • System-wide. Gas City-Mill Township Public Library serves 8,981 people in and around Gas City, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Gas City.

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 Gas City

Does Gas City have a public library?

Yes. Gas City-Mill Township Public Library, 135 East Main Street, serves 8,981 people in and around Gas City (the survey’s count) and is open about 49 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Gas City-Mill Township 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 Gas City’s library?

It logged 2.1 visits and lent 4.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.

What is Gas City’s civic life grade?

B Gas City is ahead of 58% of U.S. towns on civic life, #271 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 Gas City.

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.