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Milner City HallPhoto: Michael Rivera · CC BY-SA 4.0
Milner Community Library · part of Flint River Regional Library System

Milner’s library is a branch of Flint River Regional Library System, which lends less per resident than 55% of systems its size

Milner’s library is the Milner Community Library, a branch of Flint River Regional Library System, which serves 295,143 people and lent 1.1M items last year.

159 Main St., Milner 30257 · about 27 hours a week
–Civic lifeNot graded: fewer than 1,000 residents
Borrowed a year
1.1M
3.8 per resident
Visits a year
543K
1.8 per resident · Below typical (2.1)
Programs & events
1,938
about 37 a week · 48K attended
Cardholders
36%
106,258 cards
Open
27 hrs
a week at this branch

What stands out about Milner Community Library

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

Civic life grade

What’s behind Milner’s civic life grade

Milner isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.

–
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Milner’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 →

How it compares

Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures

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

Visits per resident 1.8 visits · typical 2.1Lower than 59%
Borrowing per resident 3 print items · typical 3.2Lower than 55%
Digital borrowing 0.8 e-items · typical 1.4Lower than 70%
Kids’ borrowing 1.6 kids’ items · typical 1.6Lower than 51%
Program attendance 0.2 attendees · typical 0.2Lower than 68%
Programs offered 6.6 per 1,000 residents · typical 9Lower than 69%
Cardholders 36% of residents · typical 41%Lower than 61%
Spending $20 per resident · typical $36Lower than 79%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

Flint River Regional Library System serves 295,143 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.

A year at the library

Every hour the doors are open, about 53 items go out

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

543K
visits
1.8 per resident
1.1M
loans, print + digital
3.8 per resident
1,938
programs & events
48K attended
106K
library cards
36% of people served
Every open hour53items borrowed
Every week928people at a program
Every day556Wi-Fi sessions
58 staff (full-time equivalent)207 public computers
What people borrow

More than half the print loans are kids’ books

1.1M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.

1.1Mloans
Books & media (adults) 36%Kids’ books & media 42%E-books, audio & streaming 21%
From your couch

236,192 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.

Kids & programs

About 24 kids’ programs a week

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

Schools in Milner →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–5696
Ages 6–11549
Teens128
Adults489
All ages76
Little ones
13.4

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

469K
kids’ books & media borrowed
48K
people at programs
1,938
programs
The building

Find it

Milner Community Library, 159 Main St., Milner.

27
hours open a week
6,000
square feet
With a card

E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Flint River Regional Library System branch.

New in Milner? 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 $2.84 worth

Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Milner 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
$20 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $6M.

Local taxes 70%State 25%Gifts & other 5%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $17M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $6M 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 106,258 cardholders ÷ 12.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.

  • System-wide. Milner Community Library is one branch of Flint River Regional Library System, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 295,143 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 Milner

Does Milner have a public library?

Yes: Milner Community Library, 159 Main St., is a branch of Flint River Regional Library System, which serves 295,143 people. The branch is open about 27 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Flint River Regional Library System 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 Milner’s library?

It logged 1.8 visits and lent 3.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.

What is Milner’s civic life grade?

Milner isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.

Book talk

Reading, story times and the library in Milner.

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.