Photo: W.marsh · CC BY-SA 3.0Owenton’s library runs 43 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Owen County Public Library serves 11,313 people in and around Owenton. Last year it lent 68K books, movies and e-books and logged 32K visits.
What stands out about Owen County Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Owenton’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Owenton is ahead of 52% of U.S. towns. Owenton is graded on two of the three inputs. Owenton’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 →
10 community nonprofits are registered in Owenton
6.4 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.6%
5.6% of Owenton’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 Owenton’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Owen County Public Library serves 11,313 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 21 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Owen County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
68K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
3,595 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
Owen County Public Library, 1370 Highway 22 East, Owenton.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Owen County Public Library branch.
New in Owenton? 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 $1.69 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Owenton cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $668K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $668K 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 8,021 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Owen County Public Library serves 11,313 people in and around Owenton, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Owenton.
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 Owenton
Does Owenton have a public library?
Yes. Owen County Public Library, 1370 Highway 22 East, serves 11,313 people in and around Owenton (the survey’s count) and is open about 54 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Owen 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 Owenton’s library?
It logged 2.8 visits and lent 6.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Owenton’s civic life grade?
B− Owenton is ahead of 52% 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 Owenton.
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.