Photo: Steve Meirowsky (Wikipedia) (Flickr) · CC BY-SA 3.0Peabody’s library runs 11 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60 for libraries its size
Peabody Township Library serves 1,112 people in and around Peabody. Last year it lent 3,086 books, movies and e-books and logged 2,233 visits.
What Peabody’s library is like
More library cards than residents
1,333 cards for 1,112 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
Well funded, but lightly used
Peabody Township Library spends $97 per resident, more than 82% of similar-size libraries. Use doesn’t match: visits per resident are lower than at 75% of them. What your card is worth ↓
A small-town library
Peabody Township Library serves 1,112 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 29 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 ↓
The library is a National Register landmark
Peabody Township Carnegie Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1987. Today’s library there has 2,052 square feet. The building ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Peabody Township Library offered 12 programs last year, 11 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. 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 Peabody’s civic life grade
Peabody isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Peabody Township Library serves 1,112 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 2 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
3,086 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 9,492 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.3 time last year, on average.
321 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
12 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.
A National Register landmark since 1987
Peabody Township Library, 214 N. Walnut, Peabody.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Peabody? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Peabody Township Carnegie Library
Peabody Township Carnegie Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Jun 25, 1987. It is significant for its education, architecture and social history at the local level. It was listed as part of Carnegie Libraries of Kansas TR.
Peabody Township Library, formerly Peabody Township Carnegie Library, is a library that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1987. It is located in the Downtown Historic District of Peabody, Kansas, United States.
More about the building →What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Peabody cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $108K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $77K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $108K 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 1,333 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 Peabody
Does Peabody have a public library?
Yes. Peabody Township Library, 214 N. Walnut, serves 1,112 people in and around Peabody (the survey’s count) and is open about 29 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Peabody Township 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 Peabody’s library?
It logged 2.0 visits and lent 2.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Peabody’s civic life grade?
Peabody isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Peabody.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.