Deer Creek Township’s library lends 4.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Deer Creek District Library serves 1,586 people in and around Deer Creek Township. Last year it lent 7,694 books, movies and e-books and logged 3,028 visits.
What Deer Creek Township’s library is like
Few programs for a library this size
Deer Creek District Library offered 8 programs last year, 5 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 18% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 54% for its size. How it compares ↓
Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf
Only 0% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 99% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
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; Deer Creek District Library serves 1,586 people in and around Deer Creek Township, and its numbers cover all of them; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Deer Creek Township’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Deer Creek Township is ahead of 44% of U.S. towns. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull 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 →
5 community nonprofits are registered in Deer Creek Township
3.6 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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.2%
9.2% of Deer Creek 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 Deer Creek Township’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Deer Creek District Library serves 1,586 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 6 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Deer Creek District Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
7,694 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
8 programs a year
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
Deer Creek District Library, 205 East First Avenue, Deer Creek.
Good at every Deer Creek District Library branch.
New in Deer Creek Township? The Handbook →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 $1.10 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Deer Creek Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $102K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $112K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $102K 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 292 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morton Township | Morton Public Library District | 14.7 | 58 | — graded with its twin city |
| Deer Creek Township | Deer Creek District Library | — | 24 | C+ |
| Mackinaw Township | Mackinaw District Public Library fine-free | — | 44 | A− |
| Montgomery Township | None 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).
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Deer Creek District Library serves 1,586 people in and around Deer Creek Township, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Deer Creek 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 Deer Creek Township
Does Deer Creek Township have a public library?
Yes. Deer Creek District Library, 205 East First Avenue, serves 1,586 people in and around Deer Creek Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 24 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Deer Creek District Library fine-free?
It charges late fines on some overdue items (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Deer Creek Township’s library?
It logged 1.9 visits and lent 4.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Deer Creek Township’s civic life grade?
C+ Deer Creek Township is ahead of 44% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Deer Creek 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.