Garden Plain’s library logs 7.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Garden Plain Community Library serves Garden Plain’s 952 residents. Last year it lent 8,665 books, movies and e-books and logged 6,913 visits.
What Garden Plain’s library is like
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 81% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 93% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 14 items per child in Garden Plain last year. Kids & programs ↓
A small-town library
Garden Plain Community Library serves 952 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 31 hours a week. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
Most programs are for young children
77% of the 77 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including 51 for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Programs draw a crowd
2,429 people came to the library’s 77 programs last year: 2.6 per resident, against a typical 0.7, more than at 90% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Garden Plain’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Garden Plain is ahead of 74% of U.S. towns. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; library visits rank 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 →
4 community nonprofits are registered in Garden Plain
4.0 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.9%
7.9% of Garden Plain’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 Garden Plain’s residents live; 2022.
About 1 kids’ program a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Garden Plain last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Garden Plain Community Library serves 952 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 5 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
8,665 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 8,130 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.9 time last year, on average.
1,190 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Garden Plain Community Library, 421 Ave B, Garden Plain.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Garden Plain? 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 $2.48 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Garden Plain cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $56K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $139K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $56K 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 527 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Garden Plain
Does Garden Plain have a public library?
Yes. Garden Plain Community Library, 421 Ave B, serves Garden Plain’s 952 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 31 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Garden Plain Community 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 Garden Plain’s library?
It logged 7.3 visits and lent 9.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Garden Plain’s civic life grade?
B+ Garden Plain is ahead of 74% 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 Garden Plain.
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.