Sterling Free Public Carnegie Library · Photo: Catboy69 · CC0Sterling’s library lends 12 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Sterling Free Public Library serves Sterling’s 2,275 residents. Last year it lent 32K books, movies and e-books and logged 13K visits.
The short version on Sterling’s library
Busy on a lean budget
Sterling Free Public Library spends $36 per resident, less than 73% of similar-size libraries (typical: $54). It’s still busier than 81% of them. What your card is worth ↓
More library cards than residents
2,369 cards for 2,275 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
A small-town library
Sterling Free Public Library serves 2,275 residents with about 2 full-time staff, open about 39 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 ↓
The library is a National Register landmark
Sterling Free Public Carnegie Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1987. Today’s library there has 6,000 square feet. The building ↓
Sterling is a town of borrowers
Sterling Free Public Library lends 12 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries serving under 2,500 people, more than 91% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
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 Sterling’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Sterling is ahead of 97% of U.S. towns. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups ranks highest.
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 →
19 community nonprofits are registered in Sterling
7.9 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 (6 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
18.4%
18.4% of Sterling’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.7% in the typical Kansas 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 Sterling’s residents live; 2022.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
32K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 26K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1 time last year, on average.
4,831 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Sterling Free Public Library serves 2,275 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 16 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Not reported for 2024: funding. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.
147 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.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Sterling last year.
A National Register landmark since 1987
Sterling Free Public Library, 138 N. Broadway, Sterling.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Sterling? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Sterling Free Public Carnegie Library
Sterling Free Public Carnegie Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Jun 25, 1987. It is significant for its education, architecture and social history at the local level. It was listed as part of Carnegie Libraries of Kansas TR.
The Sterling Free Public Carnegie Library is a Carnegie library located at 132 N. Broadway in Sterling, Kansas, United States. The library was built in 1916 through a $10,000 grant from the Carnegie Foundation and housed Sterling's library association, which formed in 1902. Architect R. W. Stookey of George P. Washburn & Co. designed the library in the Jacobethan style.
More about the building →For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $6.00 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Sterling cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $83K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $495K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $83K 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 2,369 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Not reported for 2024: funding. The survey filled the figure with its own estimate, so it is left 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 Sterling
Does Sterling have a public library?
Yes. Sterling Free Public Library, 138 N. Broadway, serves Sterling’s 2,275 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 39 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Sterling Free Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Sterling’s library?
It logged 5.5 visits and lent 14.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Sterling’s civic life grade?
A+ Sterling is ahead of 97% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Sterling.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.