Bremen Township’s library lends 2.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Acorn Public Library District serves 30,735 people in and around Bremen Township. Last year it lent 120K books, movies and e-books and logged 70K visits.
What stands out about Acorn Public Library District
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Bremen Township’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Bremen Township is ahead of 10% of U.S. towns, #676 of 754 in Illinois. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #289. Bremen Township is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Bremen Township’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($59K–$98K) 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 →
271 community nonprofits are registered in Bremen Township
2.6 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (113 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 18 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
4.8%
4.8% of Bremen Township’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 Bremen Township’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Acorn Public Library District serves 30,735 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 36 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Acorn Public Library District system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
120K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
30,048 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
About 5 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.
5 places to borrow in Bremen Township
Acorn Public Library District, 15624 South Central Avenue, Oak Forest.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Good at every Acorn Public Library District branch.
New in Bremen Township? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other Acorn Public Library District branches in Bremen Township
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.53 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Bremen Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.9M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.2M budget.
Fine-free. No late fees on books returned late.
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 11,521 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rich Township | Flossmoor Public Library | 9.7 | 65 | C+ |
| Tinley Park | Tinley Park Public Library | 9.2 | 70 | C+ |
| Thornton Township | Homewood Public Library District | 7.5 | 67 | D |
| Orland Township | Orland Park Public Library | 6.6 | 72 | C |
| Bremen Township | Acorn Public Library District fine-free | — | 64 | D |
| Worth Township | Alsip-Merrionette Park Library District fine-free | — | 68 | D |
| Posen | None of its own | — | — | D− |
| Dixmoor | None of its own | — | — | D− |
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.
- System-wide. Acorn Public Library District serves 30,735 people in and around Bremen Township, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Bremen Township.
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 Bremen Township
Does Bremen Township have a public library?
Yes. Acorn Public Library District, 15624 South Central Avenue, serves 30,735 people in and around Bremen Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 64 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Acorn Public Library District fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Bremen Township’s library?
It logged 2.3 visits and lent 3.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Bremen Township’s civic life grade?
D Bremen Township is ahead of 10% of U.S. towns on civic life, #676 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 Bremen Township.
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.