Venice’s library logs 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Venice Public Library serves Venice’s 1,498 residents. Last year it logged 1,219 visits.
Venice’s library, in brief
Illinois pays a big share
83% of the budget comes from the state, and 17% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
A small-town library
Venice Public Library serves 1,498 residents with about 2 full-time staff, open about 29 hours a week. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Venice Public Library offered 12 programs last year, 8 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 3% of the people Venice Public Library serves have a library card, against a typical 54% 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Venice’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Venice has fewer per resident than most U.S. towns. Venice’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the U.S. middle.
Venice’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 ($24K–$40K) 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 →
2 community nonprofits are registered in Venice
1.2 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.
1.2%
1.2% of Venice’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 Venice’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 5 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Venice Public Library serves 1,498 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
A year at Venice Public Library
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Loans aren’t shown: this year’s report counted only 17 items borrowed against 1,219 visits, so we leave the count out.
12 programs a year
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
Venice Public Library, 325 Broadway Avenue, Venice.
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 Venice cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $123K.
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 45 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.
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. Venice Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
- Loans left out. This year’s loan count is far below the library’s visits and shelves, so we leave it out.
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 Venice
Does Venice have a public library?
Yes. Venice Public Library, 325 Broadway Avenue, serves Venice’s 1,498 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 29 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Venice Public Library fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Venice’s library?
It logged 0.8 visits per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Venice’s civic life grade?
D− Venice has fewer library visits and 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 Venice.
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.