Photo: Mitchazenia · CC BY-SA 4.0Schiller Park’s library logs 1.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Schiller Park Public Library serves Schiller Park’s 11,709 residents. Last year it lent 31K print books and media and logged 21K visits.
What Schiller Park’s library is like
Well funded, but lightly used
Schiller Park Public Library spends $84 per resident, more than 85% of similar-size libraries. Use doesn’t match: visits per resident are lower than at 74% of them. What your card is worth ↓
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, Schiller Park Public Library sits below the middle on all five per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on three. How it compares ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 12% of the people Schiller Park Public Library serves have a library card, against a typical 40% for its size. How it compares ↓
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 Schiller Park’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Schiller Park is ahead of 3% of U.S. towns, #729 of 754 in Illinois. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; library visits come closest to the middle.
Schiller Park’s 2024 visits are an estimate from one typical week (the survey’s method for libraries that don’t count every visit).
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($52K–$87K) 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 →
10 community nonprofits are registered in Schiller Park
0.9 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 (6 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
3.5%
3.5% of Schiller Park’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 Schiller Park’s residents live; 2022.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Schiller Park cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $988K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $551K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $988K 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 1,442 cardholders ÷ 12.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 6 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Schiller Park Public Library serves 11,709 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 12 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
31K 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 Schiller Park’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
Each of the 25K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.2 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.
Find it
Schiller Park Public Library, 4200 Old River Road, Schiller Park.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Libraries next door
Schiller Park ranks 3rd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago | Chicago Public Library fine-free | 3.9 | 72 | C− |
| Franklin Park | Franklin Park Public Library District fine-free | 3.7 | 56 | D |
| Schiller Park | Schiller Park Public Library fine-free | 2.6 | 48 | D− |
| Leyden Township | Northlake Public Library District fine-free | — | 67 | 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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Schiller Park Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
- 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 Schiller Park
Does Schiller Park have a public library?
Yes. Schiller Park Public Library, 4200 Old River Road, serves Schiller Park’s 11,709 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 48 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Schiller Park Public Library fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Schiller Park’s library?
It logged 1.8 visits and lent 2.6 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Schiller Park’s civic life grade?
D− Schiller Park is ahead of 3% of U.S. towns on civic life, #729 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 Schiller Park.
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.