Photo: Payton Chung from DCA, USA · CC BY 2.0Glenview’s library lends 17 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Glenview Public Library serves Glenview’s 48,705 residents. Last year it lent 850K print books and media and logged 311K visits.
What Glenview’s library is like
Glenview uses its library more than almost any town its size
Glenview Public Library logs 6.4 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, and lends 17 print items per resident against a typical 3.7. On both counts it beats 94% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
Top 10% in Illinois for borrowing
Glenview ranks #10 of 259 Illinois towns with a library of their own for items borrowed per resident. Print borrowing alone runs 17 items per resident, more than at 98% of similar-size libraries nationwide. How it compares ↓
Open about 72 hours a week
Glenview Public Library is open about 72 hours a week, averaged over the year. Every hour the doors are open, about 227 items go out. The building ↓
Glenview invests in its library
Glenview Public Library spends $158 per resident a year, about four times the typical $40 for a library its size. Almost all of it (93%) comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
Programs draw a crowd
43,000 people came to the library’s 1,293 programs last year: 0.9 per resident, against a typical 0.3, more than at 93% 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 Glenview’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Glenview is ahead of 67% of U.S. towns, #215 of 754 in Illinois. Library visits hold 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 →
205 community nonprofits are registered in Glenview
4.3 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 (41 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 14 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.9%
6.9% of Glenview’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 Glenview’s residents live; 2022.
Books and media off the shelf
850K 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 Glenview’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
Each of the 245K books and other items on the shelves went out about 3.5 times last year, on average.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 6 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Glenview Public Library serves 48,705 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 227 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
About 13 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.
Find it
Glenview Public Library, 1930 Glenview Road, Glenview.
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 $2.19 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Glenview cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $7.7M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $17M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $7.7M 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 21,144 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Glenview ranks 5th of 9 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wilmette | Wilmette Public Library District fine-free | 23.6 | 71 | A |
| Northbrook | Northbrook Public Library fine-free | 21.5 | 67 | A |
| Skokie | Skokie Public Library fine-free | 21.3 | 75 | B+ |
| Northfield | Northfield Branch Library fine-free | 19.2 | 67 | C |
| Glenview | Glenview Public Library fine-free | 17.4 | 72 | B+ |
| Northfield Township | Glenview Public Library fine-free | 17.4 | 72 | B |
| Prospect Heights | Prospect Heights Public Library District fine-free | 12.1 | 62 | C− |
| Des Plaines | Des Plaines Public Library fine-free | 11.0 | 72 | C+ |
| Morton Grove | Morton Grove Public Library fine-free | 10.2 | 69 | C+ |
| Niles | Niles-Maine District Library fine-free | — | 64 | D |
| Golf | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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 Glenview
Does Glenview have a public library?
Yes. Glenview Public Library, 1930 Glenview Road, serves Glenview’s 48,705 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 72 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Glenview Public Library fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Glenview’s library?
It logged 6.4 visits and lent 17.4 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Glenview’s civic life grade?
B+ Glenview is ahead of 67% of U.S. towns on civic life, #215 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 Glenview.
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.