Photo: Jon Konrath from Oakland, USA · CC BY 2.0Goshen’s library lends 8.1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Goshen Public Library serves 38,388 people in and around Goshen. Last year it lent 450K books, movies and e-books and logged 141K visits.
What stands out about Goshen Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Goshen’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Goshen is ahead of 69% of U.S. towns, #194 of 571 in Indiana. All three 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 →
155 community nonprofits are registered in Goshen
4.5 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 (62 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.
9.0%
9.0% of Goshen’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 Goshen’s residents live; 2022.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
450K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
140,055 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Goshen Public Library serves 38,388 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 170 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Goshen Public Library system. The library’s own count.
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.
Find it
Goshen Public Library, 601 South 5th Street, Goshen.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Goshen Public Library branch.
New in Goshen? 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 $2.47 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Goshen cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.8M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $7M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.8M 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 13,030 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goshen | Goshen Public Library fine-free | — | 51 | B+ |
| Dunlap | Dunlap Branch Library fine-free | — | 55 | — unincorporated |
| Concord Township | Elkhart Public Library fine-free | — | 55 | C− |
| Jefferson 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. Goshen Public Library serves 38,388 people in and around Goshen, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Goshen.
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 Goshen
Does Goshen have a public library?
Yes. Goshen Public Library, 601 South 5th Street, serves 38,388 people in and around Goshen (the survey’s count) and is open about 51 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Goshen 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 Goshen’s library?
It logged 3.7 visits and lent 11.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Goshen’s civic life grade?
B+ Goshen is ahead of 69% of U.S. towns on civic life, #194 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 Goshen.
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.