Photo: FloNight (Sydney Poore) and Russell Poore · CC BY-SA 3.0Harrodsburg’s library logs 0.5 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Mercer County Public Library serves 23,097 people in and around Harrodsburg. Last year it lent 121K books, movies and e-books and logged 12K visits.
What stands out about Mercer County Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Harrodsburg’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Harrodsburg is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns, #18 of 126 in Kentucky. Harrodsburg is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Harrodsburg’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
33 community nonprofits are registered in Harrodsburg
3.6 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. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
10.3%
10.3% of Harrodsburg’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 Harrodsburg’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Mercer County Public Library serves 23,097 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 33 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Mercer County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
121K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
21,524 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, 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
Mercer County Public Library, 109 West Lexington Street, Harrodsburg.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Mercer County Public Library branch.
New in Harrodsburg? 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 $1.86 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Harrodsburg cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.1M 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 8,625 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Mercer County Public Library serves 23,097 people in and around Harrodsburg, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Harrodsburg.
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 Harrodsburg
Does Harrodsburg have a public library?
Yes. Mercer County Public Library, 109 West Lexington Street, serves 23,097 people in and around Harrodsburg (the survey’s count) and is open about 48 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Mercer 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 Harrodsburg’s library?
It logged 0.5 visits and lent 5.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Harrodsburg’s civic life grade?
B+ Harrodsburg is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns on civic life, #18 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 Harrodsburg.
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.