Photo: Nyttend · Public domainElizabethtown’s library lends 1.2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.2 for libraries its size
Hardin County Public Library serves 112,273 people in and around Elizabethtown. Last year it lent 253K books, movies and e-books and logged 138K visits.
The short version on Elizabethtown’s library
Hardin County Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Hardin County Public Library records 1.2 visits per resident, against a typical 2.1 for libraries serving 100,000+ people. Borrowing is 1.2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.2. It also spends less than most: $8 per resident, against a typical $36. How it compares ↓
46% of borrowing happens on a screen
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 46% of loans. That’s partly because print borrowing is low: digital loans per resident are below typical too. What people borrow ↓
Programs lean toward adults
52% of the 1,062 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 331 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
Runs on less money than most
Hardin County Public Library spends $8 per resident, less than 98% of similar-size libraries (typical: $36). What your card is worth ↓
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; Hardin County Public Library serves 112,273 people in and around Elizabethtown, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Elizabethtown’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Elizabethtown is ahead of 56% of U.S. towns, #38 of 126 in Kentucky. Elizabethtown is graded on two of the three inputs. Elizabethtown’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 →
188 community nonprofits are registered in Elizabethtown
5.8 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 (49 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 6 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.3%
6.3% of Elizabethtown’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.6% in the typical Kentucky 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 Elizabethtown’s residents live; 2022.
46% of borrowing is digital
253K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
115,377 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Hardin County Public Library serves 112,273 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 83 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Hardin County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
About 6 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.
Find it
Hardin County Public Library, 100 Jim Owen Drive, Elizabethtown.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Hardin County Public Library branch.
New in Elizabethtown? 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 $4.21 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Elizabethtown cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $914K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3.8M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $914K 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 49,035 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.
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. Hardin County Public Library serves 112,273 people in and around Elizabethtown, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Elizabethtown.
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 Elizabethtown
Does Elizabethtown have a public library?
Yes. Hardin County Public Library, 100 Jim Owen Drive, serves 112,273 people in and around Elizabethtown (the survey’s count) and is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Hardin County 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 Elizabethtown’s library?
It logged 1.2 visits and lent 2.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Elizabethtown’s civic life grade?
B Elizabethtown is ahead of 56% of U.S. towns on civic life, #38 of 126 in Kentucky. 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 Elizabethtown.
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.