Photo: Dennisyerger84 · CC BY-SA 4.0Oak Forest’s library lends 2.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Acorn Public Library District serves 30,735 people in and around Oak Forest. Last year it lent 120K books, movies and e-books and logged 70K visits.
What stands out about Acorn Public Library District
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Oak Forest’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Oak Forest is ahead of 12% of U.S. towns, #659 of 754 in Illinois. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; library visits come closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($69K–$115K) 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 →
43 community nonprofits are registered in Oak Forest
1.6 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (9 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.0%
6.0% of Oak Forest’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 Oak Forest’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Acorn Public Library District serves 30,735 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 36 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Acorn Public Library District system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
120K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
30,048 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
About 5 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
Acorn Public Library District, 15624 South Central Avenue, Oak Forest.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Good at every Acorn Public Library District branch.
New in Oak Forest? 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 $1.53 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Oak Forest cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.9M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.2M 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 11,521 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orland Park | Orland Park Public Library | 6.6 | 72 | C+ |
| Midlothian | Midlothian Public Library fine-free | 2.9 | 58 | C− |
| Markham | Markham Public Library | 0.5 | 51 | D |
| Oak Forest | Acorn Public Library District fine-free | — | 64 | D |
| Country Club Hills | None of its own | — | — | D |
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. Acorn Public Library District serves 30,735 people in and around Oak Forest, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Oak Forest.
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 Oak Forest
Does Oak Forest have a public library?
Yes. Acorn Public Library District, 15624 South Central Avenue, serves 30,735 people in and around Oak Forest (the survey’s count) and is open about 64 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Acorn Public Library District fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Oak Forest’s library?
It logged 2.3 visits and lent 3.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Oak Forest’s civic life grade?
D Oak Forest is ahead of 12% of U.S. towns on civic life, #659 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 Oak Forest.
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.