Wilber T. Reed House · Photo: Ammodramus · CC0Auburn’s library lends 9.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Auburn Memorial Library serves Auburn’s 3,507 residents. Last year it lent 44K books, movies and e-books and logged 22K visits.
What Auburn’s library is like
More library cards than residents
5,481 cards for 3,507 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, it’s 42%. How it compares ↓
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 57% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 93% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 26 items per child in Auburn last year. Kids & programs ↓
Auburn is a town of borrowers
Auburn Memorial Library lends 9.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, more than 90% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3.1 e-items per resident, against a typical 1, higher than at 90% of similar-size libraries. It’s 24% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
Most programs are for young children
72% of the 57 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including 33 for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
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.
What’s behind Auburn’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Auburn is ahead of 85% of U.S. towns, #15 of 55 in Nebraska. Auburn’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 →
30 community nonprofits are registered in Auburn
8.7 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 (8 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.4%
7.4% of Auburn’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.9% in the typical Nebraska 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 Auburn’s residents live; 2022.
57 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 Auburn last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Auburn Memorial Library serves 3,507 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 19 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
44K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 28K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.2 time last year, on average.
10,812 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Auburn Memorial Library, 1810 Courthouse Avenue, Auburn.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Auburn? 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 $3.03 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Auburn cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $218K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $659K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $218K 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 5,481 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 Auburn
Does Auburn have a public library?
Yes. Auburn Memorial Library, 1810 Courthouse Avenue, serves Auburn’s 3,507 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 46 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Auburn Memorial 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 Auburn’s library?
It logged 6.2 visits and lent 12.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Auburn’s civic life grade?
A− Auburn is ahead of 85% of U.S. towns on civic life, #15 of 55 in Nebraska. 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 Auburn.
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.