Photo: W.marsh · CC BY-SA 3.0Lebanon’s library lends 1.3 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Marion County Public Library serves 19,834 people in and around Lebanon. Last year it lent 41K books, movies and e-books and logged 26K visits.
What stands out about Marion County Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Lebanon’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Lebanon is ahead of 19% of U.S. towns, #90 of 126 in Kentucky. Lebanon is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Lebanon’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($34K–$57K) 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 →
24 community nonprofits are registered in Lebanon
3.7 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 (5 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
4.5%
4.5% of Lebanon’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 Lebanon’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Marion County Public Library serves 19,834 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 10 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Marion County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
41K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
14,702 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 3 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
Marion County Public Library, 201 East Main Street, Lebanon.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Marion County Public Library branch.
New in Lebanon? 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 $1.25 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Lebanon cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $678K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $848K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $678K 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 10,191 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Marion County Public Library serves 19,834 people in and around Lebanon, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Lebanon.
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 Lebanon
Does Lebanon have a public library?
Yes. Marion County Public Library, 201 East Main Street, serves 19,834 people in and around Lebanon (the survey’s count) and is open about 48 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Marion 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 Lebanon’s library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 2.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Lebanon’s civic life grade?
C− Lebanon is ahead of 19% of U.S. towns on civic life, #90 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 Lebanon.
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.