Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Chapin’s library is a branch of Lexington County Public Library System, which lends more per resident than 63% of systems its size
Chapin’s library is the Chapin Branch Library, a branch of Lexington County Public Library System, which serves 293,991 people and lent 1.6M items last year.
What stands out about Chapin Branch Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Chapin’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Chapin is ahead of 90% of U.S. towns. Chapin is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups 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 →
7 community nonprofits are registered in Chapin
4.9 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
12.0%
12.0% of Chapin’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 4.4% in the typical South Carolina 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 Chapin’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.
Lexington County Public Library System serves 293,991 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 51 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Lexington County Public Library System system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
1.6M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
411,645 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 55 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
Chapin Branch Library, 129 N.W. Columbia Avenue, Chapin.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Lexington County Public Library System branch.
New in Chapin? 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 $2.47 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Chapin cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $9.8M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $24M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $9.8M 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 103,097 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Chapin Branch Library is one branch of Lexington County Public Library System, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 293,991 people it serves.
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 Chapin
Does Chapin have a public library?
Yes: Chapin Branch Library, 129 N.W. Columbia Avenue, is a branch of Lexington County Public Library System, which serves 293,991 people. The branch is open about 44 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lexington County Public Library System 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 Chapin’s library?
It logged 2.1 visits and lent 5.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Chapin’s civic life grade?
A Chapin is ahead of 90% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Chapin.
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.