Bartlett’s library lends 7.4 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Bartlett Public Library District serves Bartlett’s 36,034 residents. Last year it lent 266K print books and media and logged 129K visits.
What Bartlett’s library is like
Open about 68 hours a week
Bartlett Public Library District is open about 68 hours a week, averaged over the year. Every hour the doors are open, about 75 items go out. The building ↓
Programs draw a crowd
29,000 people came to the library’s 819 programs last year: 0.8 per resident, against a typical 0.3, more than at 91% of similar-size libraries. 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.
What’s behind Bartlett’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Bartlett is ahead of 26% of U.S. towns, #536 of 754 in Illinois. Library visits hold the grade up; Bartlett’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($100K–$167K) 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 →
79 community nonprofits are registered in Bartlett
2.0 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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 (15 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 7 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.7%
6.7% of Bartlett’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.1% in the typical Illinois 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 Bartlett’s residents live; 2022.
About 10 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 6 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Bartlett Public Library District serves 36,034 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 75 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
266K 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 Bartlett’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
Each of the 96K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.8 times last year, on average.
Find it
Bartlett Public Library District, 800 South Bartlett Road, Bartlett.
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 $1.89 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Bartlett cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.6M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4.8M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.6M 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 9,671 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Bartlett ranks 2nd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carol Stream | Carol Stream Public Library fine-free | 9.4 | 69 | C− |
| Bartlett | Bartlett Public Library District | 7.4 | 68 | C |
| Wayne Township | Bartlett Public Library District | 7.4 | 68 | D |
| Streamwood | Poplar Creek Public Library District | — | 62 | D− |
| Elgin | Gail Borden Public Library District fine-free | — | 71 | D |
| Hanover Park | Sonya Crawshaw Branch Library | — | 66 | D− |
| Hanover Township | Poplar Creek Public Library District | — | 62 | D− |
| South Elgin | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Wayne | None of its own | — | — | A− |
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.
- Digital loans not reported. Illinois libraries often don’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
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 Bartlett
Does Bartlett have a public library?
Yes. Bartlett Public Library District, 800 South Bartlett Road, serves Bartlett’s 36,034 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 68 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Bartlett Public Library District fine-free?
It charges late fines on some overdue items (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Bartlett’s library?
It logged 3.6 visits and lent 7.4 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Bartlett’s civic life grade?
C Bartlett is ahead of 26% of U.S. towns on civic life, #536 of 754 in Illinois. 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 Bartlett.
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.