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Lake Ditch BridgeLake Ditch Bridge · Photo: Nyttend · Public domain
Monrovia Branch · part of Morgan County Public Library

Monroe Township’s library is a branch of Morgan County Public Library, which lends less per resident than 58% of systems its size

Monroe Township’s library is the Monrovia Branch, a branch of Morgan County Public Library, which serves 58,364 people and lent 257K items last year.

145 South Chestnut Street, Monrovia 46157 · about 63 hours a week
BCivic lifeAhead of 61% of U.S. towns · #246 of 571 in Indiana. Nonprofits and volunteering.
Borrowed a year
257K
4.4 per resident
Visits a year
99K
1.7 per resident · Below typical (2.6)
Programs & events
1,041
about 20 a week · 17K attended
Cardholders
22%
13,003 cards
Open
63 hrs
a week at this branch

What stands out about Monrovia Branch

Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.

Civic life grade

What’s behind Monroe Township’s civic life grade

On community nonprofits and volunteering, Monroe Township is ahead of 61% of U.S. towns, #246 of 571 in Indiana. Monroe Township is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Monroe Township’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.

B
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Monroe Township’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 61%
FewerMore
Indiana towns we grade (571)Ahead of 57%
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $76K–$127K (6,887)Ahead of 64%

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.

How sure. Graded on two inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. Monroe Township is small (6,541 residents), so a few dozen organizations or visits move its per-resident figures; the volunteering share is a 2022 estimate from Facebook users aged 25–44.

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 →

Places to belong

19 community nonprofits are registered in Monroe Township

3.3 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture10.22 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation30.44 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans40.62 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services30.52 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education30.46 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.43
Health10.15 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.16
Environment & animals10.24 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.17
Other40.62 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.47

Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (6 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.

Volunteering

9.5%

9.5% of Monroe 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 Monroe Township’s residents live; 2022.

How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 1.7 visits · typical 2.6Lower than 72%
Borrowing per resident 3.1 print items · typical 3.7Lower than 58%
Digital borrowing 1.3 e-items · typical 1.2Higher than 53%
Kids’ borrowing 1.4 kids’ items · typical 1.7Lower than 56%
Program attendance 0.3 attendees · typical 0.3Lower than 55%
Programs offered 17.8 per 1,000 residents · typical 14Higher than 62%
Cardholders 22% of residents · typical 39%Lower than 83%
Spending $39 per resident · typical $40Lower than 51%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

Morgan County Public Library serves 58,364 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.

A year at the library

Every hour the doors are open, about 20 items go out

Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Morgan County Public Library system. The library’s own count.

99K
visits
1.7 per resident
257K
loans, print + digital
4.4 per resident
1,041
programs & events
17K attended
13K
library cards
22% of people served
Every open hour20items borrowed
Every week333people at a program
Every day183Wi-Fi sessions
26 staff (full-time equivalent)36 public computers
What people borrow

Almost half the print loans are kids’ books

257K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.

257Kloans
Books & media (adults) 39%Kids’ books & media 32%E-books, audio & streaming 29%
From your couch

73,536 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.

Kids & programs

About 13 kids’ programs a week

Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.

Schools in Monroe Township →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–5402
Ages 6–11290
Teens115
Adults166
All ages68
Little ones
7.7

story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.

83K
kids’ books & media borrowed
17K
people at programs
1,041
programs
The building

Find it

Monrovia Branch, 145 South Chestnut Street, Monrovia.

63
hours open a week
7,522
square feet
With a card

No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Morgan County Public Library branch.

New in Monroe Township? The Handbook →

Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.

What your card is worth

For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.82 worth

Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Monroe Township cardholder borrows.

In a month I’d use…
Books$17 each
1
Kids’ books$12 each
1
E-books & audio$15 each
0
Movies & music$4 each
0
Programs & classes$10 a program
0
Computer & Wi-Fi$3 a session
0
Your card saves you about
$348
a year at retail prices · $29 a month

Who pays for it
$39 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.3M.

Local taxes 92%State 5%Gifts & other 3%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $4.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.3M budget.

Fine-free. No late fees on books returned late.

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 13,003 cardholders ÷ 12.

Next door

Libraries next door

Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.

12+ loans per resident8–124–8Under 4No library / shared system
TownLibraryLoans per residentHoursCivic life
Monroe TownshipMonrovia Branch fine-free—63B
Brown TownshipMooresville Public Library fine-free—59B−
Liberty TownshipClayton-Liberty Township Public Library fine-free—38C
Adams TownshipEminence Branch fine-free—8A+
Gregg TownshipNone 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).

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.

  • System-wide. Monrovia Branch is one branch of Morgan County Public Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 58,364 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 Monroe Township

Does Monroe Township have a public library?

Yes: Monrovia Branch, 145 South Chestnut Street, is a branch of Morgan County Public Library, which serves 58,364 people. The branch is open about 63 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Morgan County Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?

Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).

How busy is Monroe Township’s library?

It logged 1.7 visits and lent 4.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.

What is Monroe Township’s civic life grade?

B Monroe Township is ahead of 61% of U.S. towns on civic life, #246 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 Monroe Township.

Town Square →
Start a conversation

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.