Hanover Township’s library runs 19 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Poplar Creek Public Library District serves 65,645 people in and around Hanover Township. Last year it lent 222K print books and media and logged 136K visits.
What Hanover Township’s library is like
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Poplar Creek Public Library District charges late fines on some overdue items. Four of the six libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
A well-funded system
Poplar Creek Public Library District spends $83 per resident a year, about twice the typical $40 for a library its size. Almost all of it (92%) comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
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; Poplar Creek Public Library District serves 65,645 people in and around Hanover Township, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Hanover Township’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Hanover Township is ahead of 4% of U.S. towns, #718 of 754 in Illinois. Hanover Township is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($75K–$125K) 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 →
138 community nonprofits are registered in Hanover Township
1.4 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 (57 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.
5.0%
5.0% of Hanover 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 Hanover Township’s residents live; 2022.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.00 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Hanover Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $5.5M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $5.5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $5.5M 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 27,121 cardholders ÷ 12.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 6 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Poplar Creek Public Library District serves 65,645 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 33 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Poplar Creek Public Library District system. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
222K 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 Hanover Township’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
About 14 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.
Find it
Poplar Creek Public Library District, 1405 South Park Avenue, Streamwood.
Good at every Poplar Creek Public Library District branch.
New in Hanover Township? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schaumburg Township | Schaumburg Township District Library fine-free | 15.0 | 69 | C |
| Wayne Township | Bartlett Public Library District | 7.4 | 68 | D |
| Bartlett | Bartlett Public Library District | 7.4 | 68 | C |
| Hanover Township | Poplar Creek Public Library District | — | 62 | D− |
| Elgin Township | Gail Borden Public Library District fine-free | — | 71 | — graded with its twin city |
| Elgin | Gail Borden Public Library District fine-free | — | 71 | D |
| Dundee Township | Fox River Valley Public Library District fine-free | — | 65 | D |
| Barrington Township | None of its own | — | — | B |
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.
- System-wide. Poplar Creek Public Library District serves 65,645 people in and around Hanover Township, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Hanover 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 Hanover Township
Does Hanover Township have a public library?
Yes. Poplar Creek Public Library District, 1405 South Park Avenue, serves 65,645 people in and around Hanover Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 62 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Poplar Creek Public Library District fine-free?
It charges late fines on some overdue items (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Hanover Township’s library?
It logged 2.1 visits and lent 3.4 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Hanover Township’s civic life grade?
D− Hanover Township is ahead of 4% of U.S. towns on civic life, #718 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 Hanover 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.