Photo: Public domain · Public domainAurora’s library lends 6.4 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Alice M Farr Library serves Aurora’s 4,704 residents. Last year it lent 43K books, movies and e-books and logged 9,000 visits.
What Aurora’s library is like
Few programs for a library this size
Alice M Farr Library offered 11 programs last year, 2.3 per 1,000 residents against a typical 34. Kids & programs ↓
People borrow more than they stay
Borrowing per resident is higher than at 76% of similar-size libraries, but visits are lower than at 70%. People come in, pick up their books and go, or skip the trip: 30% of loans are digital. How it compares ↓
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 61% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 85% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 15 items per child in Aurora last year. Kids & programs ↓
Nearly everyone in Aurora has a card
3,983 cards for 4,704 people, or 85%. At the typical library serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, it’s 42%. How it compares ↓
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 Aurora’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Aurora is ahead of 57% of U.S. towns, #37 of 55 in Nebraska. Aurora’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 →
44 community nonprofits are registered in Aurora
9.4 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 (12 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.4%
7.4% of Aurora’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 Aurora’s residents live; 2022.
11 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 Aurora last year.
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.
Alice M Farr Library serves 4,704 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 16 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
43K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 60K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.5 time last year, on average.
12,712 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Alice M. Farr Library, 1603 L Street, Aurora.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Aurora? 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 $2.37 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Aurora cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $259K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $613K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $259K 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 3,983 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. Alice M Farr 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 Aurora
Does Aurora have a public library?
Yes. Alice M Farr Library, 1603 L Street, serves Aurora’s 4,704 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 51 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Alice M Farr 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 Aurora’s library?
It logged 1.9 visits and lent 9.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Aurora’s civic life grade?
B Aurora is ahead of 57% of U.S. towns on civic life, #37 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 Aurora.
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.