Beecher Mausoleum · Photo: Boscophotos · CC BY-SA 3.0Beecher’s library logs 2.1 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Beecher Community Library District serves 6,789 people in and around Beecher. Last year it lent 32K print books and media and logged 14K visits.
What’s behind Beecher’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Beecher is ahead of 65% of U.S. towns, #224 of 754 in Illinois. Beecher is graded on two of the three inputs. Beecher’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 →
28 community nonprofits are registered in Beecher
5.9 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 (5 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.9%
6.9% of Beecher’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 Beecher’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 6 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Beecher Community Library District serves 6,789 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 13 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Beecher Community Library District system. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
32K 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 Beecher’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
About 2 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.
Find it
Beecher Public Library District, 660 Penfield Street, Beecher.
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 $1.79 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Beecher cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $314K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $562K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $314K 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 1,188 cardholders ÷ 12.
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.
- System-wide. Beecher Community Library District serves 6,789 people in and around Beecher, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Beecher.
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 Beecher
Does Beecher have a public library?
Yes. Beecher Community Library District, 660 Penfield Street, serves 6,789 people in and around Beecher (the survey’s count) and is open about 46 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Beecher Community Library District fine-free?
It charges late fines on some overdue items (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Beecher’s library?
It logged 2.1 visits and lent 4.7 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Beecher’s civic life grade?
B+ Beecher is ahead of 65% of U.S. towns on civic life, #224 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 Beecher.
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.