Photo: Ser Amantio di Nicolao at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Kilmarnock’s library runs 65 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Lancaster Community Library serves 10,945 people in and around Kilmarnock. Last year it lent 74K books, movies and e-books and logged 63K visits.
What stands out about Lancaster Community Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Kilmarnock’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Kilmarnock is ahead of 84% of U.S. towns. Kilmarnock is graded on two of the three inputs. Kilmarnock’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups 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 →
35 community nonprofits are registered in Kilmarnock
26.3 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 (8 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.
7.3%
7.3% of Kilmarnock’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.9% in the typical Virginia 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 Kilmarnock’s residents live; 2022.
About 5 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Lancaster Community Library serves 10,945 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 15 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Lancaster Community Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
74K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
21,616 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Lancaster Community Library, 16 Town Centre Drive, Kilmarnock.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Lancaster Community Library branch.
New in Kilmarnock? 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 $2.48 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Kilmarnock cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $753K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.9M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $753K 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 2,759 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Lancaster Community Library serves 10,945 people in and around Kilmarnock, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Kilmarnock.
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 Kilmarnock
Does Kilmarnock have a public library?
Yes. Lancaster Community Library, 16 Town Centre Drive, serves 10,945 people in and around Kilmarnock (the survey’s count) and is open about 54 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lancaster Community 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 Kilmarnock’s library?
It logged 5.8 visits and lent 6.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Kilmarnock’s civic life grade?
A− Kilmarnock is ahead of 84% 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 Kilmarnock.
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.