Photo: Andrew Filer · CC BY-SA 2.0Lisbon’s library runs 0.5 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60 for libraries its size
Lisbon Public Library serves Lisbon’s 2,204 residents. Last year it lent 11K books, movies and e-books and logged 5,356 visits.
What Lisbon’s library is like
Few programs for a library this size
Lisbon Public Library offered 1 programs last year, 0.5 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
A small-town library
Lisbon Public Library serves 2,204 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 29 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 ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
27% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 73%. What your card is worth ↓
A place to get online
Lisbon Public Library logs about 33 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 4 public computers. That’s 5.5 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
Runs on less money than most
Lisbon Public Library spends $20 per resident, less than 91% 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 Lisbon’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Lisbon is ahead of 81% of U.S. towns. Lisbon’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 →
29 community nonprofits are registered in Lisbon
12.8 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
10.7%
10.7% of Lisbon’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.9% in the typical North Dakota 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 Lisbon’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Lisbon Public Library serves 2,204 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 8 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
11K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 19K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
3,621 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
1 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 Lisbon last year.
Find it
Lisbon Public Library, 409 Forest Street, Lisbon.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Lisbon? 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 $4.98 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Lisbon cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $43K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $216K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $43K budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
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 1,117 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. Lisbon Public Library 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 Lisbon
Does Lisbon have a public library?
Yes. Lisbon Public Library, 409 Forest Street, serves Lisbon’s 2,204 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 29 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lisbon Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Lisbon’s library?
It logged 2.4 visits and lent 5.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Lisbon’s civic life grade?
A− Lisbon is ahead of 81% 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 Lisbon.
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.