Photo: Dennisyerger84 · CC BY-SA 3.0Lowell’s library lends 5.8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Lowell Public Library serves 22,120 people in and around Lowell. Last year it lent 165K books, movies and e-books and logged 72K visits.
What stands out about Lowell Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Lowell’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Lowell is ahead of 84% of U.S. towns, #117 of 571 in Indiana. Lowell is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Lowell’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 →
63 community nonprofits are registered in Lowell
5.7 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 (7 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
9.0%
9.0% of Lowell’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 Lowell’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Lowell Public Library serves 22,120 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 31 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Lowell Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
165K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
36,933 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
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
Lowell Public Library, 1505 East Commercial Avenue, Lowell.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Lowell Public Library branch.
New in Lowell? 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 $2.20 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Lowell cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.2M 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 9,070 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Lowell Public Library serves 22,120 people in and around Lowell, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Lowell.
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 Lowell
Does Lowell have a public library?
Yes. Lowell Public Library, 1505 East Commercial Avenue, serves 22,120 people in and around Lowell (the survey’s count) and is open about 60 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lowell 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 Lowell’s library?
It logged 3.3 visits and lent 7.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Lowell’s civic life grade?
A− Lowell is ahead of 84% of U.S. towns on civic life, #117 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 Lowell.
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.