Palatine Township’s library lends 5.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Rolling Meadows Library serves 24,200 people in and around Palatine Township. Last year it lent 143K print books and media and logged 82K visits.
What Palatine Township’s library is like
Open about 71 hours a week
Rolling Meadows Library is open about 71 hours a week, averaged over the year. Every hour the doors are open, about 38 items go out. The buildings ↓
Palatine Township invests in its library
Rolling Meadows Library spends $158 per resident a year, about four times the typical $43 for a library its size. Almost all of it (94%) 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.
What’s behind Palatine Township’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Palatine Township is ahead of 36% of U.S. towns, #450 of 754 in Illinois. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #138. Library visits hold the grade up; Palatine Township’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($79K–$131K) 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 →
327 community nonprofits are registered in Palatine Township
2.9 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 (73 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 26 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.5%
6.5% of Palatine 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 Palatine Township’s residents live; 2022.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Palatine Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $3.8M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.7M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3.8M 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 7,528 cardholders ÷ 12.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 6 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Rolling Meadows Library serves 24,200 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 38 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
143K 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 Palatine Township’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
Each of the 178K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.8 time last year, on average.
About 3 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.
4 places to borrow in Palatine Township
Rolling Meadows Library, 3110 Martin Lane, Rolling Meadows.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Palatine Township
Libraries next door
Palatine Township ranks 5th of 6 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wheeling Township | Arlington Heights Memorial Library fine-free | 17.4 | 77 | D |
| Arlington Heights | Arlington Heights Memorial Library fine-free | 17.4 | 77 | B |
| Hoffman Estates | Hoffman Estates Branch Library fine-free | 15.0 | 63 | D |
| Schaumburg Township | Schaumburg Township District Library fine-free | 15.0 | 69 | C |
| Palatine Township | Rolling Meadows Library fine-free | 5.9 | 71 | C+ |
| Rolling Meadows | Rolling Meadows Library fine-free | 5.9 | 71 | C− |
| Palatine | Palatine Public Library District fine-free | — | 68 | C |
| Ela Township | Ela Area Public Library District fine-free | — | 68 | B− |
| Barrington | Barrington Public Library District fine-free | — | 70 | A− |
| Barrington Township | None of its own | — | — | B |
| Inverness | None 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).
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 Palatine Township
Does Palatine Township have a public library?
Yes. Rolling Meadows Library, 3110 Martin Lane, serves 24,200 people in and around Palatine Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 71 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Rolling Meadows Library fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Palatine Township’s library?
It logged 3.4 visits and lent 5.9 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Palatine Township’s civic life grade?
C+ Palatine Township is ahead of 36% of U.S. towns on civic life, #450 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 Palatine 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.