Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0Lancaster’s library lends 0.7 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Lancaster Veterans Memorial Library serves Lancaster’s 40,215 residents. Last year it lent 27K books, movies and e-books and logged 40K visits.
Lancaster’s library, in brief
Lancaster Veterans Memorial Library is used less than most libraries its size
Lancaster Veterans Memorial Library records 1 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people. Borrowing is 0.7 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7. It also spends less than most: $8 per resident, against a typical $40. How it compares ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Lancaster Veterans Memorial Library charges late fines on some overdue items. Four of the five libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Runs on less money than most
Lancaster Veterans Memorial Library spends $8 per resident, less than 97% of similar-size libraries (typical: $40). What your card is worth ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 59% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is lower than at 89% of similar-size libraries, so the high share mostly reflects light borrowing by adults. What people borrow ↓
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 Lancaster’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Lancaster is ahead of 11% of U.S. towns, #395 of 539 in Texas. Lancaster’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Lancaster Veterans Memorial Library spends $8 per resident, against a typical $40 for libraries its size, and its 2024 visits are an estimate from one typical week (the survey’s method for libraries that don’t count every visit).
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($51K–$85K) 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 →
161 community nonprofits are registered in Lancaster
3.9 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 (52 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.
2.9%
2.9% of Lancaster’s 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 Lancaster’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.
Lancaster Veterans Memorial Library serves 40,215 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 14 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
27K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 83K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.3 time last year, on average.
571 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 3 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Lancaster last year.
Find it
Lancaster Veterans Memorial Library, 1600 Veterans Memorial Pkwy, Lancaster.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Lancaster? 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 $1.20 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Lancaster cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $332K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $399K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $332K 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 22,031 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Lancaster ranks 5th of 6 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas | Dallas Public Library fine-free | 4.4 | 48 | D |
| DeSoto | Desoto Public Library fine-free | 2.2 | 56 | C− |
| Red Oak | Red Oak Public Library fine-free | 1.7 | 38 | D |
| Wilmer | Gilliam Memorial Public Library fine-free | 0.8 | 37 | D− |
| Lancaster | Lancaster Veterans Memorial Library | 0.7 | 38 | D |
| Hutchins | Hutchins-Atwell Public Library | 0.4 | 45 | 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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Lancaster Veterans Memorial Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Lancaster
Does Lancaster have a public library?
Yes. Lancaster Veterans Memorial Library, 1600 Veterans Memorial Pkwy, serves Lancaster’s 40,215 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 38 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lancaster Veterans Memorial 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 Lancaster’s library?
It logged 1.0 visits and lent 0.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Lancaster’s civic life grade?
D Lancaster is ahead of 11% of U.S. towns on civic life, #395 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 Lancaster.
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.