Harris Township’s library is a branch of Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library, which lends more per resident than 74% of systems its size
Harris Township’s library is the Harris Branch Library, a branch of Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library, which serves 93,095 people and lent 950K items last year.
What Harris Township’s library is like
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3.9 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.2, higher than at 93% of similar-size libraries. It’s 38% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 60% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 82% of similar-size libraries. 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; Harris Township’s library is a branch of Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library, so they cover the whole system (93,095 people), not just the Harris Township branch.
What’s behind Harris Township’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Harris Township is ahead of 39% of U.S. towns, #415 of 571 in Indiana. Harris Township is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Harris Township’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($84K–$140K) 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 →
66 community nonprofits are registered in Harris Township
2.7 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 (25 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 4 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
8.3%
8.3% of Harris 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 Harris Township’s residents live; 2022.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
950K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
362,873 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 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library serves 93,095 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 129 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library system. The library’s own count.
About 8 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
Harris Branch Library, 51446 Elm Road, Granger.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library branch.
New in Harris 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 $2.61 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Harris Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $5.5M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $14M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $5.5M 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 26,550 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harris Township | Harris Branch Library | — | 45 | C+ |
| Penn Township | Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library | — | 56 | D |
| Granger | Harris Branch Library | — | 45 | — unincorporated |
| Clay Township | Roger B Francis Branch fine-free | — | 56 | 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. Harris Branch Library is one branch of Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 93,095 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 Harris Township
Does Harris Township have a public library?
Yes: Harris Branch Library, 51446 Elm Road, is a branch of Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library, which serves 93,095 people. The branch is open about 45 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Mishawaka-Penn-Harris 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 Harris Township’s library?
It logged 2.2 visits and lent 10.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Harris Township’s civic life grade?
C+ Harris Township is ahead of 39% of U.S. towns on civic life, #415 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 Harris 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.