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Marengo-Union Public Library District

Coral Township’s library logs 2.1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size

Marengo-Union Public Library District serves 13,628 people in and around Coral Township. Last year it lent 51K print books and media and logged 29K visits.

19714 East Grant Highway, Marengo 60152 · about 58 hours a week
C−Civic lifeAhead of 22% of U.S. towns · #570 of 754 in Illinois. Nonprofits and volunteering.
Borrowed a year
51K
3.7 per resident
Visits a year
29K
2.1 per resident · Below typical (3.1)
Programs & events
366
about 7 a week · 2,650 attended
Cardholders
18%
2,442 cards
Open
58 hrs
a week at this branch

What stands out about Marengo-Union Public Library District

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

Civic life grade

What’s behind Coral Township’s civic life grade

On community nonprofits and volunteering, Coral Township is ahead of 22% of U.S. towns, #570 of 754 in Illinois. Coral Township is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Coral Township’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.

C−
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Coral Township’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 22%
FewerMore
Illinois towns we grade (754)Ahead of 24%
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $83K–$139K (5,683)Ahead of 21%

Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($83K–$139K) 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.

How sure. Graded on two inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. Coral Township is small (3,731 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

4 community nonprofits are registered in Coral Township

1.0 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: arts & culture.

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture30.71 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation00.00 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans00.00 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services10.25 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education00.00 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.43
Health00.00 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.16
Environment & animals00.00 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.17

Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.

Volunteering

8.1%

8.1% of Coral 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 Coral Township’s residents live; 2022.

How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 6 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 2.1 visits · typical 3.1Lower than 67%
Borrowing per resident 3.7 print items · typical 3.9Lower than 53%
Program attendance 0.2 attendees · typical 0.4Lower than 80%
Programs offered 26.9 per 1,000 residents · typical 24Higher than 57%
Cardholders 18% of residents · typical 40%Bottom 10%
Spending $47 per resident · typical $43Higher than 55%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

Marengo-Union Public Library District serves 13,628 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.

A year at the library

Every hour the doors are open, about 17 items go out

Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Marengo-Union Public Library District system. The library’s own count.

29K
visits
2.1 per resident
51K
loans, print + digital
3.7 per resident
366
programs & events
2,650 attended
2,442
library cards
18% of people served
Every open hour17items borrowed
Every week51people at a program
Every day8Wi-Fi sessions
8 staff (full-time equivalent)16 public computers
What people borrow

Books and media off the shelf

51K 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 Coral Township’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.

Kids & programs

About 4 kids’ programs a week

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

Schools in Coral Township →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–5100
Ages 6–1189
Teens54
Adults73
All ages50
Little ones
1.9

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

2,650
people at programs
366
programs
The building

Find it

Marengo-Union Public Library District, 19714 East Grant Highway, Marengo.

58
hours open a week
20,000
square feet
With a card

No late fees. Good at every Marengo-Union Public Library District branch.

New in Coral Township? 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 $1.39 worth

Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Coral Township cardholder borrows.

In a month I’d use…
Books$17 each
2
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
$408
a year at retail prices · $34 a month

Who pays for it
$47 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $641K.

Local taxes 91%State 6%Gifts & other 3%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $894K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $641K 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 2,442 cardholders ÷ 12.

Next door

Libraries next door

Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.

12+ loans per resident8–124–8Under 4No library / shared system
TownLibraryLoans per residentHoursCivic life
Coral TownshipMarengo-Union Public Library District fine-free—58C−
Grafton TownshipHuntley Area Public Library District fine-free—63C
Hampshire TownshipElla Johnson Memorial Public Library District fine-free—61— graded with its twin city
HuntleyHuntley Area Public Library District fine-free—63C+
HampshireElla Johnson Memorial Public Library District fine-free—61C−
Seneca TownshipNone of its own——C
HarmonyNone of its own——— under 1,000 residents
Riley TownshipNone of its own——C

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).

How to read these numbers

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. Marengo-Union Public Library District serves 13,628 people in and around Coral Township, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Coral 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 Coral Township

Does Coral Township have a public library?

Yes. Marengo-Union Public Library District, 19714 East Grant Highway, serves 13,628 people in and around Coral Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 58 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Marengo-Union Public Library District fine-free?

Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).

How busy is Coral Township’s library?

It logged 2.1 visits and lent 3.7 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.

What is Coral Township’s civic life grade?

C− Coral Township is ahead of 22% of U.S. towns on civic life, #570 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 Coral Township.

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.