Photo: KOMUnews · CC BY 2.0Glasgow’s library logs 1.6 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Lewis Library of Glasgow serves Glasgow’s 1,087 residents. Last year it lent 3,263 books, movies and e-books and logged 1,724 visits.
The short version on Glasgow’s library
More library cards than residents
1,545 cards for 1,087 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 ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Lewis Library of Glasgow offered 4 programs last year, 3.7 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
The library is a National Register landmark
Glasgow Public Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1969. Today’s library there has 3,750 square feet. The building ↓
A small-town library
Lewis Library of Glasgow serves 1,087 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 24 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 ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Lewis Library of Glasgow holds 28,000 books and other items, but the average item went out less than once last year. What people borrow ↓
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 Glasgow’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Glasgow is ahead of 73% of U.S. towns. Glasgow’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
13 community nonprofits are registered in Glasgow
11.6 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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
10.5%
10.5% of Glasgow’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 Glasgow’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.
Lewis Library of Glasgow serves 1,087 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 3 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
3,263 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 28K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.1 time last year, on average.
1,187 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
4 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Glasgow last year.
A National Register landmark since 1969
Lewis Library of Glasgow, 315 Market St., Glasgow.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Glasgow? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Glasgow Public Library
Glasgow Public Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 21, 1969. It is significant for its architecture at the national level. Its architecture is described as Italianate.
Glasgow Public Library, also known as Lewis Library, is a historic library building located at Glasgow, Howard County, Missouri. It was built in 1866, and is a two-story, Italianate style brick building. It features round-arched windows and doors, and a high bracketed cornice with its broad overhanging roof. It is the oldest Missouri library in continuous use.
More about the building →For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.79 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Glasgow cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $29K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $52K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $29K 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 1,545 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Lewis Library of Glasgow counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Glasgow
Does Glasgow have a public library?
Yes. Lewis Library of Glasgow, 315 Market St., serves Glasgow’s 1,087 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 24 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lewis Library of Glasgow 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 Glasgow’s library?
It logged 1.6 visits and lent 3.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Glasgow’s civic life grade?
B+ Glasgow is ahead of 73% 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 Glasgow.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.