Photo: Rowen Hansen · CC BY-SA 4.0Adrian’s library logs 1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Adrian Community Library serves Adrian’s 1,730 residents. Last year it lent 2,985 books, movies and e-books and logged 1,667 visits.
The short version on Adrian’s library
More library cards than residents
3,029 cards for 1,730 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
Adrian Community Library is used less than most libraries its size
Adrian Community Library records 1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Borrowing is 1.5 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $14 per resident, against a typical $54. How it compares ↓
A small-town library
Adrian Community Library serves 1,730 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 27 hours a week. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
Programs lean toward adults
74% of the 112 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 26 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
Runs on less money than most
Adrian Community Library spends $14 per resident, less than 95% of similar-size libraries (typical: $54). What your card is worth ↓
This summary is written from the numbers on this page. Numbers are the library’s own report to the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Adrian’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Adrian is ahead of 46% of U.S. towns. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull 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 →
7 community nonprofits are registered in Adrian
3.9 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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
11.7%
11.7% of Adrian’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 9.3% in the typical Missouri 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 Adrian’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Adrian Community Library serves 1,730 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 2 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
2,985 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 6,768 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
337 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
112 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Adrian last year.
Find it
Adrian Community Library, 116 E Main St., Adrian.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Adrian? 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 $2.47 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Adrian cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $25K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $61K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $25K 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 3,029 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Adrian
Does Adrian have a public library?
Yes. Adrian Community Library, 116 E Main St., serves Adrian’s 1,730 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 27 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Adrian Community 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 Adrian’s library?
It logged 1.0 visits and lent 1.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Adrian’s civic life grade?
B− Adrian is ahead of 46% 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 Adrian.
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.