Photo: Skvader · CC BY-SA 4.0Tolono’s library logs 2.2 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Tolono Public Library District serves 13,315 people in and around Tolono. Last year it lent 56K print books and media and logged 29K visits.
What Tolono’s library is like
Open about 64 hours a week
Tolono Public Library District is open about 64 hours a week, averaged over the year. The building ↓
Tolono Public Library District serves more than Tolono
The library’s service area covers 13,315 people in and around Tolono, so its per-resident numbers are measured against that wider population. 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 Tolono’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Tolono is ahead of 61% of U.S. towns, #249 of 754 in Illinois. Tolono is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Tolono’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
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 Tolono
2.8 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
10.9%
10.9% of Tolono’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 Tolono’s residents live; 2022.
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.
Tolono Public Library District serves 13,315 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 17 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
56K 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 Tolono’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
Each of the 35K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.6 times 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
Tolono Public Library District, 111 East Main Street, Tolono.
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 $2.27 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Tolono cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $444K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $444K 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 2,999 cardholders ÷ 12.
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 Tolono
Does Tolono have a public library?
Yes. Tolono Public Library District, 111 East Main Street, serves 13,315 people in and around Tolono (the survey’s count) and is open about 64 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Tolono Public Library District fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Tolono’s library?
It logged 2.2 visits and lent 4.2 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Tolono’s civic life grade?
B Tolono is ahead of 61% of U.S. towns on civic life, #249 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 Tolono.
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.