Stickney’s library logs 2.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Stickney-Forest View Public Library District serves 10,833 people in and around Stickney. Last year it lent 31K print books and media and logged 31K visits.
What Stickney’s library is like
Few residents carry a card
Only 19% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 40% for its size. How it compares ↓
Programs lean toward adults
51% of the 562 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 210 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
A well-funded system
Stickney-Forest View Public Library District spends $94 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; Stickney-Forest View Public Library District serves 10,833 people in and around Stickney, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Stickney’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Stickney has fewer per resident than most U.S. towns. Stickney is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the U.S. middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($50K–$84K) 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 →
Stickney has few registered community nonprofits
0.1 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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 (0 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
4.4%
4.4% of Stickney’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 Stickney’s residents live; 2022.
About 4 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 6 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Stickney-Forest View Public Library District serves 10,833 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 10 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Stickney-Forest View Public Library District system. 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 Stickney’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
Find it
Stickney-Forest View Public Library District, 6800 West 43rd Street, Stickney.
No late fees. Good at every Stickney-Forest View Public Library District branch.
New in Stickney? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Stickney cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $602K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1M 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 2,104 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago | Chicago Public Library fine-free | 3.9 | 72 | C− |
| Stickney Township | Prairie Trails Public Library District fine-free | 2.5 | 67 | D− |
| Cicero | Cicero Public Library fine-free | 0.8 | 55 | D− |
| Stickney | Stickney-Forest View Public Library District fine-free | — | 60 | D− |
| Forest View | None of its own | — | — | — graded with its twin city |
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. Stickney-Forest View Public Library District serves 10,833 people in and around Stickney, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Stickney.
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 Stickney
Does Stickney have a public library?
Yes. Stickney-Forest View Public Library District, 6800 West 43rd Street, serves 10,833 people in and around Stickney (the survey’s count) and is open about 60 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Stickney-Forest View Public Library District fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Stickney’s library?
It logged 2.9 visits and lent 2.8 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Stickney’s civic life grade?
D− Stickney has fewer community nonprofits per resident, and fewer younger adults in volunteering groups, than most U.S. towns. 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 Stickney.
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.