Photo: Paul Sableman · CC BY 2.0Great Bend’s library logs 3.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Great Bend Public Library serves Great Bend’s 14,372 residents. Last year it lent 79K books, movies and e-books and logged 55K visits.
What stands out about Great Bend’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Great Bend’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Great Bend is ahead of 64% of U.S. towns, #66 of 149 in Kansas. Great Bend’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 →
85 community nonprofits are registered in Great Bend
5.9 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 (22 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.0%
7.0% of Great Bend’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 Great Bend’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Great Bend Public Library serves 14,372 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 30 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Not reported for 2024: spending. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
79K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 55K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.1 time last year, on average.
20,228 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 kids’ programs 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 Great Bend last year.
Find it
Great Bend Public Library, 1409 Williams, Great Bend.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Great Bend? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Great Bend cardholder borrows.
Fine-free. No late fees on books returned late.
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 5,219 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Bend | Great Bend Public Library fine-free | 5.5 | 50 | B |
| Great Bend Township | None of its own | — | — | D |
| South Bend Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Liberty Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Buffalo Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Comanche Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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.
- Not reported for 2024: spending. The survey filled the figure with its own estimate, so it is left out.
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 Great Bend
Does Great Bend have a public library?
Yes. Great Bend Public Library, 1409 Williams, serves Great Bend’s 14,372 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Great Bend Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Great Bend’s library?
It logged 3.8 visits and lent 5.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Great Bend’s civic life grade?
B Great Bend is ahead of 64% of U.S. towns on civic life, #66 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 Great Bend.
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.