Photo: Travellers & Tinkers · CC BY-SA 4.0Lewistown’s library logs 5 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Lewistown Public Library serves 9,989 people in and around Lewistown. Last year it lent 63K books, movies and e-books and logged 50K visits.
What stands out about Lewistown Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Lewistown’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Lewistown is ahead of 69% of U.S. towns, #20 of 28 in Montana. Lewistown is graded on two of the three inputs. Lewistown’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 →
107 community nonprofits are registered in Lewistown
17.6 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 (13 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.9%
5.9% of Lewistown’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.0% in the typical Montana 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 Lewistown’s residents live; 2022.
A National Register landmark since 1980
Lewistown Public Library, 701 West Main, Lewistown.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Lewistown Public Library branch.
New in Lewistown? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Lewistown Carnegie Library
Lewistown Carnegie Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Aug 11, 1980. It is significant for its architecture and social history at the local level.
More about the building →Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Lewistown Public Library serves 9,989 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 30 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Lewistown Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
63K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
19,564 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.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.57 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Lewistown cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $382K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $982K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $382K 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 5,362 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lewistown | Lewistown Public Library fine-free | — | 40 | B+ |
| Lewistown Heights | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
Loans = print + digital items borrowed in the library’s fiscal year, per person it serves. — = no library of its own, a county or regional system (its numbers cover many towns), or no report. Civic life: — = not graded (unincorporated places, whose nonprofits can’t be placed by mailing address, or towns with fewer than two of the three inputs).
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Lewistown Public Library serves 9,989 people in and around Lewistown, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Lewistown.
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 Lewistown
Does Lewistown have a public library?
Yes. Lewistown Public Library, 701 West Main, serves 9,989 people in and around Lewistown (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lewistown 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 Lewistown’s library?
It logged 5.0 visits and lent 6.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Lewistown’s civic life grade?
B+ Lewistown is ahead of 69% of U.S. towns on civic life, #20 of 28 in Montana. 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 Lewistown.
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.