Andover’s library lends 9.7 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Andover Public Library serves 15,814 people in and around Andover. Last year it lent 205K books, movies and e-books and logged 85K visits.
The short version on Andover’s library
More library cards than residents
75,207 cards for 15,814 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, it’s 40%. How it compares ↓
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 76% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 97% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
Programs are almost all for children
93% of the 187 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 3.1 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
A system of heavy borrowers
Andover Public Library lends 9.7 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, more than 89% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3.3 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.1, higher than at 90% of similar-size libraries. It’s 25% of all loans. 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; Andover Public Library serves 15,814 people in and around Andover, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Andover’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Andover is ahead of 58% of U.S. towns, #74 of 149 in Kansas. Library visits hold 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 →
58 community nonprofits are registered in Andover
3.6 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 (21 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.1%
7.1% of Andover’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.7% in the typical Kansas 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 Andover’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 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Andover Public Library serves 15,814 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 68 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Andover Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
205K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
51,678 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Andover Public Library, 1511 E. Central, Andover.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Andover Public Library branch.
New in Andover? 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 $3.87 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Andover cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $733K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.8M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $733K 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 75,207 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wichita | Advanced Learning Library fine-free | 4.3 | 57 | C− |
| Andover | Andover Public Library | — | 58 | B |
| Bruno Township | Andover Public Library | — | 58 | B− |
| Minneha Township | None of its own | — | — | D |
Loans = print + digital items borrowed in the library’s fiscal year, per person it serves. — = no library of its own, a county or regional system (its numbers cover many towns), or no report. Civic life: — = not graded (unincorporated places, whose nonprofits can’t be placed by mailing address, or towns with fewer than two of the three inputs).
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Andover Public Library serves 15,814 people in and around Andover, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Andover.
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 Andover
Does Andover have a public library?
Yes. Andover Public Library, 1511 E. Central, serves 15,814 people in and around Andover (the survey’s count) and is open about 58 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Andover 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 Andover’s library?
It logged 5.4 visits and lent 13.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Andover’s civic life grade?
B Andover is ahead of 58% of U.S. towns on civic life, #74 of 149 in Kansas. 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 Andover.
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.