Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Madison

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
Madison City HallPhoto: Michael Rivera · CC BY-SA 3.0
Madison Public Library · part of Suwannee River Regional Library System

Madison’s library is a branch of Suwannee River Regional Library System, which lends less per resident than 82% of systems its size

Madison’s library is the Madison Public Library, a branch of Suwannee River Regional Library System, which serves 73,454 people and lent 102K items last year.

378 Northwest College Loop, Madison 32340
B−Civic lifeAhead of 46% of U.S. towns · #67 of 273 in Florida. Nonprofits and volunteering.
Directions (850) 973-6814 What’s a card worth?
Borrowed a year
102K
1.4 per resident
Visits a year
185K
2.5 per resident · Below typical (2.6)
Programs & events
2,556
about 49 a week · 35K attended
Cardholders
99%
72,985 cards
In brief

What Madison’s library is like

Nearly everyone the system serves has a card

72,985 cards for 73,454 people, or 99%. At the typical library serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, it’s 39%. How it compares ↓

Well funded, but lightly used

The Suwannee River Regional Library System spends $75 per resident, more than 82% of similar-size libraries. Use doesn’t match: visits per resident are lower than at 52% of them. What your card is worth ↓

Florida pays a big share

28% of the budget comes from the state, and 72% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓

Twice the programs of a typical library its size

The Suwannee River Regional Library System ran 2,556 programs last year, about 49 a week. That’s 35 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14. Kids & programs ↓

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; Madison’s library is a branch of Suwannee River Regional Library System, so they cover the whole system (73,454 people), not just the Madison branch.

Civic life grade

What’s behind Madison’s civic life grade

On community nonprofits and volunteering, Madison is ahead of 46% of U.S. towns, #67 of 273 in Florida. Madison is graded on two of the three inputs. Madison’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.

B−
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Madison’s overall grade.
–Library visitsServed by a county or regional system, so there is no town figureACommunity nonprofits8.3 per 1,000 residents · FL towns 3.3 · U.S. 3.7DVolunteering3.6% of adults 25–44 · FL towns 5.6% · U.S. 7.5%
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 46%
FewerMore
Florida towns we grade (273)Ahead of 76%
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $23K–$38K (500)Ahead of 74%

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.

How sure. Graded on two inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. Madison is small (2,988 residents), so a few dozen organizations or visits move its per-resident figures; the volunteering share is a 2022 estimate from Facebook users aged 25–44.

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

25 community nonprofits are registered in Madison

8.3 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture10.34 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation41.28 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans31.08 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services82.80 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education31.04 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.43
Health20.61 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.16
Environment & animals00.17 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.17
Other31.04 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.47

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. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.

Volunteering

3.6%

3.6% of Madison’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 Madison’s residents live; 2022.

★ What stands out · Kids & programs

About 19 kids’ programs a week

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

Schools in Madison →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–5352
Ages 6–11645
Teens473
Adults948
All ages138
Little ones
6.8

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

35K
people at programs
2,556
programs
How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 6 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 2.5 visits · typical 2.6Lower than 52%
Borrowing per resident 1.4 print items · typical 3.7Lower than 82%
Program attendance 0.5 attendees · typical 0.3Higher than 70%
Programs offered 34.8 per 1,000 residents · typical 14Top 10%
Cardholders 99% of residents · typical 39%Top 10%
Spending $75 per resident · typical $40Higher than 82%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

Suwannee River Regional Library System serves 73,454 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.

A year at the library

A year at Suwannee River Regional Library System

Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Suwannee River Regional Library System system. The library’s own count.

185K
visits
2.5 per resident
102K
loans, print + digital
1.4 per resident
2,556
programs & events
35K attended
73K
library cards
99% of people served
Every week672people at a program
Every day156Wi-Fi sessions
44 staff (full-time equivalent)148 public computers

Not reported for 2024: hours open. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.

What people borrow

Books and media off the shelf

102K 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 Madison’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.

The building

Find it

Madison Public Library, 378 Northwest College Loop, Madison.

Directions(850) 973-6814
5,920
square feet
With a card

Good at every Suwannee River Regional Library System branch.

New in Madison? The Handbook →

Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.

What your card is worth

What a library card is worth

Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Madison 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
$75 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $5.5M.

Local taxes 72%State 28%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $5.5M 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 72,985 cardholders ÷ 12.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.

  • Not reported for 2024: hours open. The survey filled the figure with its own estimate, so it is left out.
  • Digital loans not reported. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
  • System-wide. Madison Public Library is one branch of Suwannee River Regional Library System, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 73,454 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 Madison

Does Madison have a public library?

Yes: Madison Public Library, 378 Northwest College Loop, is a branch of Suwannee River Regional Library System, which serves 73,454 people.

Is Suwannee River Regional Library System fine-free?

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

How busy is Madison’s library?

It logged 2.5 visits and lent 1.4 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.

What is Madison’s civic life grade?

B− Madison is ahead of 46% of U.S. towns on civic life, #67 of 273 in Florida. 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 Madison.

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.