Photo: Chris Flook · CC BY-SA 4.0Topeka’s library is a branch of La Grange County Public Library, which lends more per resident than 84% of systems its size
Topeka’s library is the Topeka Branch Library, a branch of La Grange County Public Library, which serves 40,446 people and lent 333K items last year.
What stands out about Topeka Branch Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Topeka’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Topeka is ahead of 12% of U.S. towns. Topeka is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($47K–$79K) 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 →
2 community nonprofits are registered in Topeka
1.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: health.
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.
6.6%
6.6% of Topeka’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 Topeka’s residents live; 2022.
About 6 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
La Grange County Public Library serves 40,446 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 38 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole La Grange County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
333K 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.
Find it
Topeka Branch Library, 133 North Main Street, Topeka.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every La Grange County Public Library branch.
New in Topeka? 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 $3.39 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Topeka cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.5M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.5M 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 9,133 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Digital loans not reported. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
- System-wide. Topeka Branch Library is one branch of La Grange County Public Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 40,446 people it serves.
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 Topeka
Does Topeka have a public library?
Yes: Topeka Branch Library, 133 North Main Street, is a branch of La Grange County Public Library, which serves 40,446 people. The branch is open about 39 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is La Grange 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 Topeka’s library?
It logged 1.6 visits and lent 8.2 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Topeka’s civic life grade?
D Topeka is ahead of 12% 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 Topeka.
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.