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Lampasas County CourthousePhoto: Travis K. Witt · CC BY-SA 4.0
Lampasas Public Library

Lampasas’ library logs 5.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size

Lampasas Public Library serves Lampasas’s 7,855 residents. Last year it lent 50K books, movies and e-books and logged 42K visits.

201 S Main St., Lampasas 76550 · about 41 hours a week
ACivic lifeAhead of 94% of U.S. towns · #11 of 539 in Texas. Library visits, nonprofits and volunteering.
Borrowed a year
50K
6.3 per resident
Visits a year
42K
5.3 per resident · Above typical (3)
Programs & events
106
about 2 a week · 2,885 attended
Cardholders
75%
5,854 cards
Open
41 hrs
a week

What stands out about Lampasas’s library

Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.

Civic life grade

What’s behind Lampasas’ civic life grade

On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Lampasas is ahead of 94% of U.S. towns, #11 of 539 in Texas. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; Lampasas’ count of community nonprofits ranks highest.

A
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Lampasas’ overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 94%
FewerMore
Texas towns we grade (539)Ahead of 98%
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $50K–$84K (8,800)Ahead of 92%

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.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A to A+. Lampasas is small (7,988 residents), so a few dozen organizations or visits move its per-resident figures; the volunteering share is a 2022 estimate from Facebook users aged 25–44.

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 →

Places to belong

80 community nonprofits are registered in Lampasas

10.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture20.26 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation182.35 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans121.56 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services141.83 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education121.56 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.43
Health20.26 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.16
Environment & animals70.91 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.17
Other131.69 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.47

Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (14 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.

Volunteering

10.4%

10.4% of Lampasas’ Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 5.7% in the typical Texas 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 Lampasas’ residents live; 2022.

★ What stands out · How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 5.3 visits · typical 3Higher than 77%
Borrowing per resident 5.6 print items · typical 3.8Higher than 70%
Digital borrowing 0.8 e-items · typical 1Lower than 59%
Kids’ borrowing 2.8 kids’ items · typical 1.6Higher than 74%
Program attendance 0.4 attendees · typical 0.5Lower than 61%
Programs offered 13.5 per 1,000 residents · typical 34Lower than 80%
Cardholders 75% of residents · typical 42%Higher than 81%
Spending $38 per resident · typical $43Lower than 57%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Ranked in TX#14Most-used librariesof 181 towns
#48Most library borrowingof 183 towns
#35Best libraries for kidsof 183 towns
Size group

Lampasas Public Library serves 7,855 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.

A year at the library

Every hour the doors are open, about 23 items go out

Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.

42K
visits
5.3 per resident
50K
loans, print + digital
6.3 per resident
106
programs & events
2,885 attended
5,854
library cards
75% of people served
Every open hour23items borrowed
Every week55people at a program
Every day10Wi-Fi sessions
4 staff (full-time equivalent)13 public computers26K books & media on the shelves
What people borrow

More than half the print loans are kids’ books

50K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.

50Kloans
Books & media (adults) 44%Kids’ books & media 44%E-books, audio & streaming 12%
How hard the shelves work
1.7×

Each of the 26K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.7 times last year, on average.

From your couch

5,991 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.

Kids & programs

About 1 kids’ program a week

Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.

Schools in Lampasas →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–534
Ages 6–1124
Teens5
Adults37
All ages6
Little ones
0.7

story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.

Kids’ books
13

children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Lampasas last year.

2,885
people at programs
106
programs
The building

Find it

Lampasas Public Library, 201 S Main St., Lampasas.

41
hours open a week
7,111
square feet
26K
books & media
With a card

E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.

New in Lampasas? The Handbook →

Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.

What your card is worth

For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.55 worth

Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Lampasas cardholder borrows.

In a month I’d use…
Books$17 each
1
Kids’ books$12 each
0
E-books & audio$15 each
0
Movies & music$4 each
0
Programs & classes$10 a program
0
Computer & Wi-Fi$3 a session
0
Your card saves you about
$204
a year at retail prices · $17 a month

Who pays for it
$38 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $300K.

Local taxes 87%Gifts & other 13%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $764K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $300K 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 5,854 cardholders ÷ 12.

How to read these numbers

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 Lampasas

Does Lampasas have a public library?

Yes. Lampasas Public Library, 201 S Main St., serves Lampasas’ 7,855 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 41 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Lampasas 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 Lampasas’ library?

It logged 5.3 visits and lent 6.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.

What is Lampasas’ civic life grade?

A Lampasas is ahead of 94% of U.S. towns on civic life, #11 of 539 in Texas. 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 Lampasas.

Town Square →
Start a conversation

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.