Photo: Marksingley · CC BY-SA 4.0Marshall’s library logs 18 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Marshall Public Library serves Marshall’s 3,947 residents. Last year it lent 28K print books and media and logged 71K visits.
What Marshall’s library is like
Marshall has the most-used library in Illinois
Out of 260 Illinois towns with a library of their own, Marshall comes first for visits per resident. How it compares ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
28% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 48%. What your card is worth ↓
A place to get online
Marshall Public Library logs about 110 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 17 public computers. That’s 10 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
Marshall invests in its library
Marshall Public Library spends $89 per resident a year, about twice the typical $43 for a library its size. 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.
What’s behind Marshall’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Marshall is ahead of 93% of U.S. towns, #31 of 754 in Illinois. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; library visits rank highest.
Marshall Public Library logged 18.0 visits per resident in FY2024, #41 of the 3,790 town libraries we compare. The survey counts every visit, residents or not, and libraries don’t report how many come from out of town.
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 →
34 community nonprofits are registered in Marshall
8.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (5 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
8.2%
8.2% of Marshall’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 Marshall’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 11 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 5 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Marshall Public Library serves 3,947 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Books and media off the shelf
28K 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 Marshall’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
Each of the 31K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.9 time last year, on average.
About 4 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
Marshall Public Library, 612 Archer Avenue, Marshall.
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 $1.69 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Marshall cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $350K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $593K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $350K 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 1,776 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Visits count everyone. Marshall’s 70,944 visits include people from nearby towns and summer visitors; the survey has no resident share.
- 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 Marshall
Does Marshall have a public library?
Yes. Marshall Public Library, 612 Archer Avenue, serves Marshall’s 3,947 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 47 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Marshall Public Library fine-free?
It charges late fines on some overdue items (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Marshall’s library?
It logged 18.0 visits and lent 7.0 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Marshall’s civic life grade?
A Marshall is ahead of 93% of U.S. towns on civic life, #31 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 Marshall.
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.