Photo: Michael Barera · CC BY-SA 4.0Lindale’s library logs 11 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Lillie Russell Memorial Library serves Lindale’s 6,923 residents. Last year it lent 64K books, movies and e-books and logged 75K visits.
What Lindale’s library is like
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
78% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 22%. What your card is worth ↓
Lindale ranks 3rd in Texas for library use
Out of 181 Texas towns with a library of their own, Lindale comes 3rd for visits per resident. How it compares ↓
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 70% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 91% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 20 items per child in Lindale last year. Kids & programs ↓
More library cards than residents
6,894 cards for 6,923 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, it’s 42%. 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.
What’s behind Lindale’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Lindale is ahead of 90% of U.S. towns, #15 of 539 in Texas. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Lindale’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
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 →
24 community nonprofits are registered in Lindale
3.7 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 (12 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 3 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
14.9%
14.9% of Lindale’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 Lindale’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 34 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Lillie Russell Memorial Library serves 6,923 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
64K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 42K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.2 time last year, on average.
14,826 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
About 3 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Lindale last year.
Find it
Lillie Russell Memorial Library, 200 E Hubbard St., Lindale.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting.
New in Lindale? 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 $4.15 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Lindale cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $230K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $954K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $230K 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 6,894 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lindale | Lillie Russell Memorial Library | 9.2 | 36 | A |
| Hideaway | None of its own | — | — | A |
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. Lillie Russell 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 Lindale
Does Lindale have a public library?
Yes. Lillie Russell Memorial Library, 200 E Hubbard St., serves Lindale’s 6,923 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 36 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lillie Russell 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 Lindale’s library?
It logged 10.8 visits and lent 9.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Lindale’s civic life grade?
A Lindale is ahead of 90% of U.S. towns on civic life, #15 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 Lindale.
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.