Photo: Eric Wood · CC BY-SA 3.0Plainfield’s library logs 5.1 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Plainfield-Guilford Township Public Library serves 33,797 people in and around Plainfield. Last year it lent 334K books, movies and e-books and logged 172K visits.
What Plainfield’s library is like
40% of borrowing happens on a screen
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 40% of loans, more per resident than at 94% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 60%, much of it kids’ books. What people borrow ↓
Visits are the system’s strong suit
Plainfield-Guilford Township Public Library logs 5.1 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, more than 88% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing is above typical too, at 5.9 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
Open about 65 hours a week
The Plainfield branch is open about 65 hours a week, averaged over the year. The building ↓
Most programs are for young children
68% of the 834 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 7.5 a week for ages 0–5. 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; Plainfield-Guilford Township Public Library serves 33,797 people in and around Plainfield, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Plainfield’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Plainfield is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns, #190 of 571 in Indiana. Library visits hold the grade up; Plainfield’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
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 →
128 community nonprofits are registered in Plainfield
3.5 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 (38 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 6 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
9.1%
9.1% of Plainfield’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 Plainfield’s residents live; 2022.
40% of borrowing is digital
334K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
135,342 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Plainfield-Guilford Township Public Library serves 33,797 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 99 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Plainfield-Guilford Township Public Library system. The library’s own count.
About 11 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
Plainfield-Guilford Township Public Library, 1120 Stafford Road, Plainfield.
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 Plainfield-Guilford Township Public Library branch.
New in Plainfield? 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 $2.07 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Plainfield cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.6M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $5.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.6M 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 12,565 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wayne Township | Speedway Public Library fine-free | 4.0 | 60 | D |
| Plainfield | Plainfield-Guilford Township Public Library fine-free | — | 65 | B+ |
| Avon | Avon-Washington Township Public Library | — | 63 | B− |
| Guilford Township | Plainfield-Guilford Township Public Library fine-free | — | 65 | B+ |
| Liberty Township | Clayton-Liberty Township Public Library fine-free | — | 38 | C |
| Washington Township | Avon-Washington Township Public Library | — | 63 | B− |
| Indianapolis | Indianapolis Public Library fine-free | — | 54 | 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.
- System-wide. Plainfield-Guilford Township Public Library serves 33,797 people in and around Plainfield, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Plainfield.
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 Plainfield
Does Plainfield have a public library?
Yes. Plainfield-Guilford Township Public Library, 1120 Stafford Road, serves 33,797 people in and around Plainfield (the survey’s count) and is open about 65 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Plainfield-Guilford Township 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 Plainfield’s library?
It logged 5.1 visits and lent 9.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Plainfield’s civic life grade?
B+ Plainfield is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns on civic life, #190 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 Plainfield.
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.