Photo: John Schanlaub · CC BY 2.0Thorntown’s library logs 5.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Thorntown Public Library serves 5,962 people in and around Thorntown. Last year it lent 45K books, movies and e-books and logged 35K visits.
What Thorntown’s library is like
The branch is a National Register landmark
Thorntown Public Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1986. Today’s library there has 14,000 square feet. The building ↓
A well-funded system
Thorntown Public Library spends $123 per resident a year, about three times the typical $43 for a library its size. Almost all of it (90%) comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 63% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 82% 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; Thorntown Public Library serves 5,962 people in and around Thorntown, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Thorntown’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Thorntown is ahead of 76% of U.S. towns. Thorntown is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Thorntown’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 →
7 community nonprofits are registered in Thorntown
6.0 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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.8%
7.8% of Thorntown’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 Thorntown’s residents live; 2022.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Thorntown cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $733K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $718K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $733K 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 1,581 cardholders ÷ 12.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Thorntown Public Library serves 5,962 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 15 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Thorntown Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
45K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
11,905 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. 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 1986
Thorntown Public Library, 124 North Market Street, Thorntown.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Thorntown Public Library branch.
New in Thorntown? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Thorntown Public Library
Thorntown Public Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Sep 22, 1986. It is significant for its education at the local level.
Thorntown Public Library is a historic Carnegie library located at Thorntown, Indiana. It was built in 1914–1915, and is a one-story, three-bay, brown brick building with a red clay tile hipped roof. It has a round arched entrance and limestone trim. Its construction was funded with $10,000 from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.
More about the building →What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Thorntown Public Library serves 5,962 people in and around Thorntown, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Thorntown.
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 Thorntown
Does Thorntown have a public library?
Yes. Thorntown Public Library, 124 North Market Street, serves 5,962 people in and around Thorntown (the survey’s count) and is open about 57 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Thorntown 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 Thorntown’s library?
It logged 5.9 visits and lent 7.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Thorntown’s civic life grade?
A− Thorntown is ahead of 76% 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 Thorntown.
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.