Photo: Tony Webster from Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States · CC BY 2.0Omaha’s library lends 5 print items per resident, against a typical 3.2 for libraries its size
Omaha Public Library serves 571,013 people in and around Omaha from 11 locations. Last year it lent 4.1M books, movies and e-books and logged 1.3M visits.
The short version on Omaha’s library
Programs are almost all for children
81% of the 2,771 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 37 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Open about 64 hours a week
The Omaha branch is open about 64 hours a week, averaged over the year. The buildings ↓
11 branches in Omaha
Omaha has 11 branches of the Omaha Public Library, which serves 571,013 people in and around Omaha. One card works at all of them. The buildings ↓
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; Omaha Public Library serves 571,013 people in and around Omaha, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Omaha’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Omaha is ahead of 41% of U.S. towns, #43 of 55 in Nebraska. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #117. Omaha is graded on two of the three inputs. Omaha’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($55K–$92K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
2,011 community nonprofits are registered in Omaha
4.1 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (466 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 76 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.5%
6.5% of Omaha’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 Omaha’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Omaha Public Library serves 571,013 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 99 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Omaha Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
4.1M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
1,233,710 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 43 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.
11 places to borrow in Omaha
Millard Branch Library, 13214 Westwood Lane, Omaha.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Omaha Public Library branch.
New in Omaha? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other Omaha Public Library branches in Omaha
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.98 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Omaha cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $21M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $62M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $21M 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 245,012 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bellevue | Bellevue Public Library | 5.9 | 66 | C− |
| Council Bluffs | Council Bluffs Public Library fine-free | 2.8 | 66 | D |
| Carter Lake | Carter Lake Public Library fine-free | 2.2 | 44 | C− |
| Omaha | Millard Branch Library fine-free | — | 64 | C+ |
| Ralston | Baright Public Library | — | 62 | D− |
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. Omaha Public Library serves 571,013 people in and around Omaha, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Omaha.
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 Omaha
Does Omaha have a public library?
Yes. Omaha Public Library, 13214 Westwood Lane, serves 571,013 people in and around Omaha (the survey’s count) and is open about 64 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Omaha 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 Omaha’s library?
It logged 2.3 visits and lent 7.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Omaha’s civic life grade?
C+ Omaha is ahead of 41% of U.S. towns on civic life, #43 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 Omaha.
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.