Temple Commercial Historic District · Photo: Larry D. Moore · CC BY 4.0Temple’s library runs 8.5 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Temple Public Library serves Temple’s 93,095 residents. Last year it lent 415K books, movies and e-books and logged 178K visits.
What stands out about Temple’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Temple’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Temple is ahead of 13% of U.S. towns, #370 of 539 in Texas. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Temple’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Temple’s 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 →
273 community nonprofits are registered in Temple
3.1 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 (85 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 12 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
4.7%
4.7% of Temple’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 Temple’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Temple Public Library serves 93,095 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 134 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
415K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 140K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.8 times last year, on average.
19,796 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 5 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 Temple last year.
Find it
Temple Public Library, 100 W Adams Ave, Temple.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Temple? 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 $2.66 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Temple cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.3M 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 20,739 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Temple | Temple Public Library | 4.5 | 60 | D |
| Belton | Lena Armstrong Public Library fine-free | 3.5 | 42 | B− |
| Morgan's Point Resort | None of its own | — | — | D− |
| Pendleton | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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. Temple Public 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 Temple
Does Temple have a public library?
Yes. Temple Public Library, 100 W Adams Ave, serves Temple’s 93,095 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 60 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Temple 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 Temple’s library?
It logged 1.9 visits and lent 4.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Temple’s civic life grade?
D Temple is ahead of 13% of U.S. towns on civic life, #370 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 Temple.
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.