Photo: Chris Light · CC BY-SA 3.0Portland’s library lends 7.1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Jay County Public Library serves 17,313 people in and around Portland. Last year it lent 149K books, movies and e-books and logged 70K visits.
What stands out about Jay County Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Portland’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Portland is among the top 1% of U.S. towns, #5 of 571 in Indiana. Portland is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs put Portland near the top nationally; Portland’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 →
75 community nonprofits are registered in Portland
11.7 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 (16 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.
12.7%
12.7% of Portland’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 Portland’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Jay County Public Library serves 17,313 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 45 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Jay County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
149K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
26,423 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
Jay County Public Library, 315 North Ship Street, Portland.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Jay County Public Library branch.
New in Portland? 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 $2.39 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Portland cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $998K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $998K 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 5,573 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Jay County Public Library serves 17,313 people in and around Portland, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Portland.
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 Portland
Does Portland have a public library?
Yes. Jay County Public Library, 315 North Ship Street, serves 17,313 people in and around Portland (the survey’s count) and is open about 59 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Jay County 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 Portland’s library?
It logged 4.0 visits and lent 8.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Portland’s civic life grade?
A+ Portland is among the top 1% of U.S. towns on civic life, #5 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 Portland.
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.