Photo: Brylie · CC BY-SA 4.0Meade Center Township’s library lends 7.7 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Meade Public Library serves 1,442 people in and around Meade Center Township. Last year it lent 12K books, movies and e-books and logged 6,594 visits.
What Meade Center Township’s library is like
A small-town library
Meade Public Library serves 1,442 residents with about 2 full-time staff, open about 37 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 ↓
A place to get online
Meade Public Library logs about 17 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 4 public computers. That’s 4.3 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Meade Public Library holds 29,000 books and other items, but the average item went out less than once last year. 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Meade Center Township’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Meade Center Township is ahead of 97% of U.S. towns. Meade Center Township is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Meade Center Township’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 →
14 community nonprofits are registered in Meade Center Township
9.2 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 (6 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
10.8%
10.8% of Meade Center Township’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 Meade Center Township’s residents live; 2022.
19 programs a year
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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Meade Public Library serves 1,442 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 6 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
12K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 29K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
1,335 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Meade Public Library, 104 E. West Plains, Meade.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Meade Center Township? 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 $1.68 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Meade Center Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $120K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $202K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $120K budget.
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 1,112 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meade Center Township | Meade Public Library fine-free | 8.6 | 37 | A+ |
| West Plains Township | Plains Community Library fine-free | 2.3 | 38 | C+ |
| Mertilla Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Crooked Creek 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.
- 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 Meade Center Township
Does Meade Center Township have a public library?
Yes. Meade Public Library, 104 E. West Plains, serves 1,442 people in and around Meade Center Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 37 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Meade 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 Meade Center Township’s library?
It logged 4.6 visits and lent 8.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Meade Center Township’s civic life grade?
A+ Meade Center Township is ahead of 97% 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 Meade Center Township.
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.