Photo: W.marsh · CC BY-SA 3.0Lancaster’s library lends 1.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Garrard County Public Library serves 17,829 people in and around Lancaster. Last year it lent 43K books, movies and e-books and logged 29K visits.
What stands out about Garrard County Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Lancaster’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Lancaster is ahead of 18% of U.S. towns, #95 of 126 in Kentucky. Lancaster is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($33K–$55K) 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 →
10 community nonprofits are registered in Lancaster
2.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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.
6.5%
6.5% of Lancaster’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 Lancaster’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Garrard County Public Library serves 17,829 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 14 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Garrard County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
43K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
14,361 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
Garrard County Public Library, 101 Lexington Street, Lancaster.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Garrard County Public Library branch.
New in Lancaster? 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 Lancaster cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $649K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $777K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $649K 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 6,909 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Garrard County Public Library serves 17,829 people in and around Lancaster, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Lancaster.
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 Lancaster
Does Lancaster have a public library?
Yes. Garrard County Public Library, 101 Lexington Street, serves 17,829 people in and around Lancaster (the survey’s count) and is open about 52 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Garrard 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 Lancaster’s library?
It logged 1.7 visits and lent 2.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Lancaster’s civic life grade?
C− Lancaster is ahead of 18% of U.S. towns on civic life, #95 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 Lancaster.
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.