Wakarusa’s library lends 11 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Wakarusa-Olive & Harrison Township Public Library serves 6,935 people in and around Wakarusa. Last year it lent 99K books, movies and e-books and logged 31K visits.
What Wakarusa’s library is like
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 58% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 96% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
A system of heavy borrowers
Wakarusa-Olive & Harrison Township Public Library lends 11 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, more than 94% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3 e-items per resident, against a typical 1, higher than at 89% of similar-size libraries. It’s 21% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
A well-funded system
Wakarusa-Olive & Harrison Township Public Library spends $89 per resident a year, about twice the typical $43 for a library its size. Almost all of it (87%) comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
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; Wakarusa-Olive & Harrison Township Public Library serves 6,935 people in and around Wakarusa, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Wakarusa’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Wakarusa is ahead of 67% of U.S. towns. Wakarusa is graded on two of the three inputs. Wakarusa’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups 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 →
13 community nonprofits are registered in Wakarusa
5.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.2%
7.2% of Wakarusa’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 Wakarusa’s residents live; 2022.
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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Wakarusa-Olive & Harrison Township Public Library serves 6,935 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 38 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Wakarusa-Olive & Harrison Township Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
99K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
20,483 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Wakarusa-Olive & Harrison Township Public Library, 124 North Elkhart Street, Wakarusa.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Wakarusa-Olive & Harrison Township Public Library branch.
New in Wakarusa? 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 $2.34 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Wakarusa cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $619K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $619K 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 2,826 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Wakarusa-Olive & Harrison Township Public Library serves 6,935 people in and around Wakarusa, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Wakarusa.
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 Wakarusa
Does Wakarusa have a public library?
Yes. Wakarusa-Olive & Harrison Township Public Library, 124 North Elkhart Street, serves 6,935 people in and around Wakarusa (the survey’s count) and is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Wakarusa-Olive & Harrison 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 Wakarusa’s library?
It logged 4.5 visits and lent 14.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Wakarusa’s civic life grade?
B+ Wakarusa is ahead of 67% 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 Wakarusa.
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.