Pinhook Methodist Church and Cemetery · Photo: Chris Light · CC BY-SA 4.0New Durham Township’s library logs 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Westville-New Durham Township Public Library serves 8,105 people in and around New Durham Township. Last year it lent 21K books, movies and e-books and logged 5,887 visits.
What New Durham Township’s library is like
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, Westville-New Durham Township Public Library sits below the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on six. How it compares ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 11% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 42% for its size. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Westville-New Durham Township Public Library offered 67 programs last year, 8.3 per 1,000 residents against a typical 34. Kids & programs ↓
Fewer visits than most libraries its size
Westville-New Durham Township Public Library records 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, below 93% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing holds up better, at 2.2 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 62% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is lower than at 58% 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; Westville-New Durham Township Public Library serves 8,105 people in and around New Durham Township, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind New Durham Township’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, New Durham Township is ahead of 40% of U.S. towns, #402 of 571 in Indiana. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($67K–$111K) 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 →
27 community nonprofits are registered in New Durham 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
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.
12.4%
12.4% of New Durham 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 New Durham Township’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Westville-New Durham Township Public Library serves 8,105 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 16 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Westville-New Durham Township Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
21K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
3,872 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
67 programs a year
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
Westville-New Durham Township Public Library, 153 Main Street, Westville.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Westville-New Durham Township Public Library branch.
New in New Durham 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 $2.44 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average New Durham Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $127K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $311K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $127K 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 879 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Durham Township | Westville-New Durham Township Public Library | — | 25 | C+ |
| Coolspring Township | Coolspring Branch Library fine-free | — | 57 | C+ |
| Scipio Township | None of its own | — | — | B− |
| Jackson Township | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| Clinton 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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Westville-New Durham Township Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
- System-wide. Westville-New Durham Township Public Library serves 8,105 people in and around New Durham Township, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just New Durham Township.
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 New Durham Township
Does New Durham Township have a public library?
Yes. Westville-New Durham Township Public Library, 153 Main Street, serves 8,105 people in and around New Durham Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 25 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Westville-New Durham Township 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 New Durham Township’s library?
It logged 0.7 visits and lent 2.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is New Durham Township’s civic life grade?
C+ New Durham Township is ahead of 40% of U.S. towns on civic life, #402 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 New Durham 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.