Waterloo Community Mausoleum · Photo: Nyttend · Public domainWaterloo’s library lends 5.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Waterloo-Grant Township Public Library serves 4,748 people in and around Waterloo. Last year it lent 33K books, movies and e-books and logged 14K visits.
What Waterloo’s library is like
Most programs are for young children
74% of the 233 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including 42 for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 61% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 81% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
A well-funded system
Waterloo-Grant Township Public Library spends $94 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; Waterloo-Grant Township Public Library serves 4,748 people in and around Waterloo, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Waterloo’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Waterloo is ahead of 82% of U.S. towns. Waterloo is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Waterloo’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 →
13 community nonprofits are registered in Waterloo
6.3 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
8.5%
8.5% of Waterloo’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 Waterloo’s residents live; 2022.
About 3 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 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Waterloo-Grant Township Public Library serves 4,748 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 11 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Waterloo-Grant Township Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
33K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
5,807 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Waterloo-Grant Township Public Library, 300 South Wayne Street, Waterloo.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Waterloo-Grant Township Public Library branch.
New in Waterloo? 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 $1.13 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Waterloo cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $449K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $505K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $449K 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 1,015 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Waterloo-Grant Township Public Library serves 4,748 people in and around Waterloo, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Waterloo.
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 Waterloo
Does Waterloo have a public library?
Yes. Waterloo-Grant Township Public Library, 300 South Wayne Street, serves 4,748 people in and around Waterloo (the survey’s count) and is open about 56 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Waterloo-Grant 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 Waterloo’s library?
It logged 3.0 visits and lent 6.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Waterloo’s civic life grade?
A− Waterloo is ahead of 82% 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 Waterloo.
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.