Perry Township’s library runs 108 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60 for libraries its size
Colfax-Perry Township Public Library serves 1,494 people in and around Perry Township. Last year it lent 3,790 print books and media and logged 3,000 visits.
What Perry Township’s library is like
Well funded, but lightly used
Colfax-Perry Township Public Library spends $166 per resident, more than 94% of similar-size libraries. Use doesn’t match: visits per resident are lower than at 75% of them. What your card is worth ↓
The branch is a National Register landmark
Colfax Carnegie Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1994. Today’s library there has 5,900 square feet. The building ↓
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; Colfax-Perry Township Public Library serves 1,494 people in and around Perry Township, and its numbers cover all of them; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Perry Township’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Perry Township is ahead of 36% of U.S. towns. 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 ($48K–$80K) 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 →
5 community nonprofits are registered in Perry Township
2.9 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.0%
9.0% of Perry 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 Perry Township’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Colfax-Perry Township Public Library serves 1,494 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 2 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Colfax-Perry Township Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
3,790 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.
About 2 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.
A National Register landmark since 1994
Colfax-Perry Township Public Library, 207 South Clark Street, Colfax.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Colfax-Perry Township Public Library branch.
New in Perry Township? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Colfax Carnegie Library
Colfax Carnegie Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Mar 17, 1994. It is significant for its architecture and education at the local level. Its architecture is described as Neo-Classical Revival.
The Colfax Carnegie Library, also known as Colfax Public Library, is a historic Carnegie library located at Colfax, Indiana. It was built in 1917, and is a 1+1⁄2-story, Classical Revival style brick building on a raised basement. It features a red terra cotta style hipped roof and decorative frieze. It was built in part with $9,000 provided by the Carnegie Foundation.
More about the building →What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Perry Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $248K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $72K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $248K 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 383 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perry Township | Colfax-Perry Township Public Library | — | 37 | C+ |
| Sugar Creek Township | Thorntown Public Library fine-free | — | 57 | B+ |
| Washington Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Jackson Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
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. Colfax-Perry Township Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
- Digital loans not reported. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
- System-wide. Colfax-Perry Township Public Library serves 1,494 people in and around Perry Township, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Perry 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 Perry Township
Does Perry Township have a public library?
Yes. Colfax-Perry Township Public Library, 207 South Clark Street, serves 1,494 people in and around Perry Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 37 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Colfax-Perry 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 Perry Township’s library?
It logged 2.0 visits and lent 2.5 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Perry Township’s civic life grade?
C+ Perry Township is ahead of 36% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Perry 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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.