St. Lukes Episcopal Church · Photo: Smallbones · CC0Lebanon’s library logs 1.4 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Lebanon Community Library serves 65,382 people in and around Lebanon. Last year it lent 132K books, movies and e-books and logged 89K visits.
What Lebanon’s library is like
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
52% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 17%. What your card is worth ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Lebanon Community Library offered 278 programs last year, 4.3 per 1,000 residents against a typical 14. Kids & programs ↓
Open about 65 hours a week
The Lebanon branch is open about 65 hours a week, averaged over the year. The building ↓
Most programs are for young children
71% of the 278 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 2.6 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
80% of the people it serves carry a library card
52,454 cards for 65,382 people, or 80%. At the typical library serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, it’s 39%. 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; Lebanon Community Library serves 65,382 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 12% of U.S. towns, #937 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Lebanon is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Lebanon’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Lebanon Community Library spends $17 per resident, against a typical $40 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($36K–$61K) 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 →
77 community nonprofits are registered in Lebanon
2.9 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (26 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
4.7%
4.7% of Lebanon’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.0% in the typical Pennsylvania 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Lebanon Community Library serves 65,382 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 39 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Lebanon Community Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
132K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
18,829 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 4 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.
Find it
Lebanon Community Library, 125 N Seventh St., Lebanon.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Lebanon Community 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 $2.09 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 $1.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.1M 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 52,454 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lebanon | Lebanon Community Library | — | 65 | D |
| North Cornwall Township | None of its own | — | — | C |
| North Lebanon Township | None of its own | — | — | D− |
| South Lebanon Township | None of its own | — | — | C |
| Lebanon South | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Pleasant Hill | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Hebron | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| West Lebanon Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Sand Hill | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Avon | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
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 Community Library serves 65,382 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 Community Library, 125 N Seventh St., serves 65,382 people in and around Lebanon (the survey’s count) and is open about 65 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lebanon Community 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 1.4 visits and lent 2.0 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?
D Lebanon is ahead of 12% of U.S. towns on civic life, #937 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. 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.