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Viola Public Library District

Greene Township’s library lends 8.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size

Viola Public Library District serves Greene Township’s 2,078 residents. Last year it lent 18K print books and media and logged 13K visits.

1701 Seventeenth Street, Viola 61486 · about 38 hours a week
BCivic lifeAhead of 61% of U.S. towns. Nonprofits and volunteering.
Borrowed a year
18K
8.6 per resident
Visits a year
13K
6.1 per resident · Above typical (3.5)
Programs & events
54
about 1 a week · 236 attended
Cardholders
54%
1,112 cards
Open
38 hrs
a week

What stands out about Greene Township’s library

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

Civic life grade

What’s behind Greene Township’s civic life grade

On community nonprofits and volunteering, Greene Township is ahead of 61% of U.S. towns. Greene Township is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Greene Township’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.

B
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Greene Township’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 61%
FewerMore
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $59K–$98K (9,233)Ahead of 60%

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. Greene Township is small (1,401 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

5 community nonprofits are registered in Greene Township

3.6 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture00.00 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation42.88 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans10.72 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services00.00 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

8.9%

8.9% of Greene 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 Greene Township’s residents live; 2022.

★ What stands out · What people borrow

Books and media off the shelf

18K 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 Greene Township’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.

How hard the shelves work
1.1×

Each of the 16K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.1 time last year, on average.

How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 6 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 6.1 visits · typical 3.5Higher than 75%
Borrowing per resident 8.6 print items · typical 3.9Higher than 83%
Program attendance 0.1 attendees · typical 0.7Lower than 87%
Programs offered 26 per 1,000 residents · typical 60Lower than 73%
Cardholders 54% of residents · typical 54%Lower than 51%
Spending $61 per resident · typical $54Higher than 58%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

Viola Public Library District serves 2,078 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.

A year at the library

Every hour the doors are open, about 9 items go out

Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.

13K
visits
6.1 per resident
18K
loans, print + digital
8.6 per resident
54
programs & events
236 attended
1,112
library cards
54% of people served
Every open hour9items borrowed
Every week5people at a program
Every day1Wi-Fi sessions
1 staff (full-time equivalent)5 public computers16K books & media on the shelves
Kids & programs

54 programs a year

Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.

Schools in Greene Township →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–510
Ages 6–1110
Teens10
Adults14
All ages10
Little ones
0.2

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

236
people at programs
54
programs
The building

Find it

Viola Public Library District, 1701 Seventeenth Street, Viola.

38
hours open a week
4,999
square feet
16K
books & media

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 $2.45 worth

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

In a month I’d use…
Books$17 each
1
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
$204
a year at retail prices · $17 a month

Who pays for it
$61 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $126K.

Local taxes 71%State 7%Gifts & other 22%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $308K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $126K 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 1,112 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
Greene TownshipViola Public Library District fine-free8.638B
Rivoli TownshipNew Windsor Public Library District2.830C
Mercer TownshipEdwards River Public Library District fine-free—50B+
Suez TownshipNone of its own——— under 1,000 residents
Preemption 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.

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 Greene Township

Does Greene Township have a public library?

Yes. Viola Public Library District, 1701 Seventeenth Street, serves Greene Township’s 2,078 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 38 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Viola Public Library District fine-free?

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

How busy is Greene Township’s library?

It logged 6.1 visits and lent 8.6 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.

What is Greene Township’s civic life grade?

B Greene Township is ahead of 61% 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 Greene 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.