Photo: Nyttend · Public domainLagrange’s library lends 8.2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
La Grange County Public Library serves 40,446 people in and around Lagrange. Last year it lent 333K print books and media and logged 63K visits.
What stands out about La Grange County Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Lagrange’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Lagrange is ahead of 43% of U.S. towns, #384 of 571 in Indiana. Lagrange is graded on two of the three inputs. Lagrange’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($41K–$68K) 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 →
11 community nonprofits are registered in Lagrange
4.0 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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.8%
6.8% of Lagrange’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 Lagrange’s residents live; 2022.
About 6 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
La Grange County Public Library serves 40,446 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 38 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole La Grange County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
333K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
La Grange County Public Library, 203 West Spring Street, Lagrange.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every La Grange County Public Library branch.
New in Lagrange? 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 $3.39 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Lagrange cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.5M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.5M 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 9,133 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Digital loans not reported. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
- System-wide. La Grange County Public Library serves 40,446 people in and around Lagrange, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Lagrange.
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 Lagrange
Does Lagrange have a public library?
Yes. La Grange County Public Library, 203 West Spring Street, serves 40,446 people in and around Lagrange (the survey’s count) and is open about 56 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is La Grange County 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 Lagrange’s library?
It logged 1.6 visits and lent 8.2 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Lagrange’s civic life grade?
C+ Lagrange is ahead of 43% of U.S. towns on civic life, #384 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 Lagrange.
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.