Photo: W.marsh · CC BY-SA 3.0Harlan’s library runs 20 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Harlan County Public Library serves 25,324 people in and around Harlan. Last year it lent 72K books, movies and e-books and logged 50K visits.
What stands out about Harlan County Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Harlan’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Harlan is ahead of 18% of U.S. towns. Harlan is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Harlan’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($24K–$41K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
8 community nonprofits are registered in Harlan
3.5 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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.
4.7%
4.7% of Harlan’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 Harlan’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Harlan County Public Library serves 25,324 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 8 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Harlan County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
72K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
13,504 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 5 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
Harlan County Public Library, 107 N. 3rd St., Harlan.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Harlan County Public Library branch.
New in Harlan? 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 $1.20 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Harlan cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1M 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 17,207 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Harlan County Public Library serves 25,324 people in and around Harlan, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Harlan.
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 Harlan
Does Harlan have a public library?
Yes. Harlan County Public Library, 107 N. 3rd St., serves 25,324 people in and around Harlan (the survey’s count) and is open about 54 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Harlan County Public 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 Harlan’s library?
It logged 2.0 visits and lent 2.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Harlan’s civic life grade?
C− Harlan is ahead of 18% 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 Harlan.
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.