Photo: Paul J Everett · CC BY 2.0Lebanon’s library runs 29 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Lebanon Public Library serves 25,311 people in and around Lebanon. Last year it lent 149K print books and media and logged 100K visits.
What Lebanon’s library is like
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Lebanon Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. Two of the three libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Programs draw a crowd
20,000 people came to the system’s 744 programs last year: 0.8 per resident, against a typical 0.3, more than at 90% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
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; Lebanon Public Library serves 25,311 people in and around Lebanon, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Lebanon’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Lebanon is ahead of 83% of U.S. towns, #123 of 571 in Indiana. Lebanon is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Lebanon’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
104 community nonprofits are registered in Lebanon
5.8 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (20 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.
8.8%
8.8% of Lebanon’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 Lebanon’s residents live; 2022.
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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Lebanon Public Library serves 25,311 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 56 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Lebanon Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
149K 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
Lebanon Public Library, 104 East Washington Street, Lebanon.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Lebanon Public Library branch.
New in Lebanon? 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 $1.73 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Lebanon cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.5M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.6M 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 5,878 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zionsville | Hussey-Mayfield Memorial Public Library fine-free | 26.1 | 64 | A |
| Whitestown | Whitestown Branch fine-free | 26.1 | 64 | B |
| Lebanon | Lebanon Public Library | — | 58 | A− |
| Center Township | Lebanon Public Library | — | 58 | A− |
| Perry Township | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| Jefferson Township | None of its own | — | — | B− |
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.
- Digital loans not reported. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
- System-wide. Lebanon Public Library serves 25,311 people in and around Lebanon, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Lebanon.
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 Lebanon
Does Lebanon have a public library?
Yes. Lebanon Public Library, 104 East Washington Street, serves 25,311 people in and around Lebanon (the survey’s count) and is open about 58 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lebanon 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 Lebanon’s library?
It logged 4.0 visits and lent 5.9 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Lebanon’s civic life grade?
A− Lebanon is ahead of 83% of U.S. towns on civic life, #123 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 Lebanon.
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.