Photo: Jacobjimmy2000 · CC BY-SA 3.0Greentown’s library logs 14 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Greentown & Eastern Howard School Public Library serves 6,354 people in and around Greentown from 2 locations. Last year it lent 93K books, movies and e-books and logged 88K visits.
What Greentown’s library is like
One of the busiest library systems its size
Greentown & Eastern Howard School Public Library logs 14 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, and lends 12 print items per resident against a typical 3.8. On both counts it beats 94% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 77% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 98% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3 e-items per resident, against a typical 1, higher than at 89% of similar-size libraries. It’s 20% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
This summary is written from the numbers on this page. Numbers are the library’s own report to the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024; Greentown & Eastern Howard School Public Library serves 6,354 people in and around Greentown, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Greentown’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Greentown is ahead of 57% of U.S. towns. Greentown is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Greentown’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
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 →
7 community nonprofits are registered in Greentown
3.5 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
8.6%
8.6% of Greentown’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 Greentown’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 19 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Greentown & Eastern Howard School Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Greentown & Eastern Howard School Public Library serves 6,354 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
93K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
18,935 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 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.
2 places to borrow in Greentown
Greentown & Eastern Howard School Public Library, 421 South Harrison Street, Greentown.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Greentown & Eastern Howard School Public Library branch.
New in Greentown? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other Greentown & Eastern Howard School Public Library branches in Greentown
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $3.06 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Greentown cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $438K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $438K 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 3,111 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Greentown & Eastern Howard School Public Library serves 6,354 people in and around Greentown, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Greentown.
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 Greentown
Does Greentown have a public library?
Yes. Greentown & Eastern Howard School Public Library, 421 South Harrison Street, serves 6,354 people in and around Greentown (the survey’s count) and is open about 52 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Greentown & Eastern Howard School 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 Greentown’s library?
It logged 13.9 visits and lent 14.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Greentown’s civic life grade?
B Greentown is ahead of 57% 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 Greentown.
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.