Photo: R.P. Piper "[email protected]" · CC BY-SA 3.0Lebanon’s library lends 12 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Lebanon Public Library serves 44,127 people in and around Lebanon. Last year it lent 653K books, movies and e-books and logged 150K visits.
What Lebanon’s library is like
More library cards than residents
47,716 cards for 44,127 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, it’s 39%. How it compares ↓
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 64% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 97% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
Ohio pays a big share
51% of the budget comes from the state, and 46% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
A system of heavy borrowers
Lebanon Public Library lends 12 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, more than 93% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Most programs are for young children
68% of the 750 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 7.6 a week 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; Lebanon Public Library serves 44,127 people in and around Lebanon, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Lebanon’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Lebanon is ahead of 88% of U.S. towns, #100 of 914 in Ohio. Lebanon is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Lebanon’s count of community nonprofits ranks highest.
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 →
163 community nonprofits are registered in Lebanon
7.6 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 (40 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 6 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
8.8%
8.8% of Lebanon’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.5% in the typical Ohio 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 Lebanon’s residents live; 2022.
About 10 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Lebanon Public Library serves 44,127 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 218 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Lebanon Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
653K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
123,831 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Lebanon Public Library, 101 S. Broadway, Lebanon.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Lebanon Public Library branch.
New in Lebanon? 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 $3.87 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Lebanon cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.4M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $9.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.4M 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 47,716 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mason | Mason Public Library fine-free | 14.5 | 13 | A− |
| Lebanon | Lebanon Public Library | — | 58 | A |
| Turtlecreek Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Union Township | None of its own | — | — | C |
| South Lebanon | None of its own | — | — | 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. Lebanon Public Library serves 44,127 people in and around Lebanon, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Lebanon.
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 Lebanon
Does Lebanon have a public library?
Yes. Lebanon Public Library, 101 S. Broadway, serves 44,127 people in and around Lebanon (the survey’s count) and is open about 58 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lebanon 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 Lebanon’s library?
It logged 3.4 visits and lent 14.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Lebanon’s civic life grade?
A Lebanon is ahead of 88% of U.S. towns on civic life, #100 of 914 in Ohio. 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 Lebanon.
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.