Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Liberty Triangle

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
Freedom Public Library · part of Marion County Public Library System

Liberty Triangle’s library is a branch of Marion County Public Library System, which lends less per resident than 78% of systems its size

Liberty Triangle’s library is the Freedom Public Library, a branch of Marion County Public Library System, which serves 413,951 people and lent 760K items last year.

5870 Southwest 95th Street, Ocala 34476 · about 49 hours a week
–Civic lifeNot graded: unincorporated places have too few inputs
Borrowed a year
760K
1.8 per resident
Visits a year
577K
1.4 per resident · Below typical (2.1)
Programs & events
2,761
about 53 a week · 62K attended
Cardholders
57%
237,772 cards
Open
49 hrs
a week at this branch

What stands out about Freedom Public Library

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

Civic life grade

What’s behind Liberty Triangle’s civic life grade

Liberty Triangle isn’t graded on civic life: it’s unincorporated, so its nonprofits can’t be counted reliably (mailing addresses don’t follow its boundary) and its library is a branch of Marion County Public Library System, so there is no town figure for visits.

–
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Liberty Triangle’s overall grade.

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 →

Places to belong

Volunteering in Liberty Triangle

Liberty Triangle is unincorporated, so its nonprofits aren’t counted: they file by mailing address, which doesn’t follow its boundary.

Volunteering

5.3%

5.3% of Liberty Triangle’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 5.6% in the typical Florida 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 Liberty Triangle’s residents live; 2022.

How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 6 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 1.4 visits · typical 2.1Lower than 78%
Borrowing per resident 1.8 print items · typical 3.2Lower than 78%
Program attendance 0.2 attendees · typical 0.2Lower than 73%
Programs offered 6.7 per 1,000 residents · typical 9Lower than 69%
Cardholders 57% of residents · typical 41%Higher than 76%
Spending $22 per resident · typical $36Lower than 76%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

Marion County Public Library System serves 413,951 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.

A year at the library

Every hour the doors are open, about 38 items go out

Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Marion County Public Library System system. The library’s own count.

577K
visits
1.4 per resident
760K
loans, print + digital
1.8 per resident
2,761
programs & events
62K attended
238K
library cards
57% of people served
Every open hour38items borrowed
Every week1,200people at a program
Every week11,092visits
107 staff (full-time equivalent)236 public computers
What people borrow

Books and media off the shelf

760K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.

The survey has no count of children’s loans for Liberty Triangle’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.

Kids & programs

About 15 kids’ programs a week

Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.

Schools in Liberty Triangle →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–5518
Ages 6–11285
Teens197
Adults1,350
All ages411
Little ones
10

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

62K
people at programs
2,761
programs
The building

Find it

Freedom Public Library, 5870 Southwest 95th Street, Ocala.

49
hours open a week
8,223
square feet
With a card

Good at every Marion County Public Library System branch.

New in Liberty Triangle? 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 $1.51 worth

Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Liberty Triangle 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
$22 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $9M.

Local taxes 98%State 1%Gifts & other 1%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $14M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $9M 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 237,772 cardholders ÷ 12.

Next door

Libraries next door

Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.

12+ loans per resident8–124–8Under 4No library / shared system
TownLibraryLoans per residentHoursCivic life
Liberty TriangleFreedom Public Library—49— unincorporated
OcalaMarion County Public Library Headquarters-Ocala—50C+

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).

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.

  • Digital loans not reported. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
  • System-wide. Freedom Public Library is one branch of Marion County Public Library System, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 413,951 people it serves.

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 Liberty Triangle

Does Liberty Triangle have a public library?

Yes: Freedom Public Library, 5870 Southwest 95th Street, is a branch of Marion County Public Library System, which serves 413,951 people. The branch is open about 49 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Marion County Public Library System fine-free?

It charges late fines on some overdue items (the library’s 2024 survey report).

How busy is Liberty Triangle’s library?

It logged 1.4 visits and lent 1.8 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.

What is Liberty Triangle’s civic life grade?

Liberty Triangle isn’t graded on civic life: it’s unincorporated, so its nonprofits can’t be counted reliably (mailing addresses don’t follow its boundary) and its library is a branch of Marion County Public Library System, so there is no town figure for visits. How it works.

Book talk

Reading, story times and the library in Liberty Triangle.

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.