Photo: Daniel Case · CC BY-SA 3.0Lake Carmel’s library runs 81 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Kent Public Library serves 12,900 people in and around Lake Carmel. Last year it lent 72K books, movies and e-books and logged 70K visits.
Lake Carmel’s library, in brief
Three times the programs of a typical library its size
Kent Public Library ran 1,048 programs last year, about 20 a week. That’s 81 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24. People show up: 18,000 attended. Kids & programs ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Kent Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. Two of the three libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Lake Carmel out-borrows every town next door
At 5.5 loans per resident, Lake Carmel leads the four towns here. The closest is Kent, at 5.5. Libraries next door ↓
Kent Public Library serves more than Lake Carmel
The library’s service area covers 12,900 people in and around Lake Carmel, so its per-resident numbers are measured against that wider population. How it compares ↓
Programs lean toward adults
57% of the 1,048 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 359 were for children. 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 Lake Carmel’s civic life grade
Lake Carmel isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
About 7 kids’ programs a week
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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Kent Public Library serves 12,900 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 30 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
72K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 55K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.9 time last year, on average.
21,051 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Kent Public Library, 17 Sybils Crossing, Kent Lakes.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Lake Carmel? 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 $1.77 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Lake Carmel cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $728K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $728K 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 6,444 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Lake Carmel borrows the most per resident of the 4 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
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.
- 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 Lake Carmel
Does Lake Carmel have a public library?
Yes. Kent Public Library, 17 Sybils Crossing, serves 12,900 people in and around Lake Carmel (the survey’s count) and is open about 46 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Kent 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 Lake Carmel’s library?
It logged 5.5 visits and lent 5.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Lake Carmel’s civic life grade?
Lake Carmel isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Lake Carmel.
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.