Photo: brewbooks · CC BY-SA 2.0Big Rapids’ library lends 7.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Big Rapids Community Library serves 11,332 people in and around Big Rapids. Last year it lent 112K books, movies and e-books and logged 36K visits.
What stands out about Big Rapids Community Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Big Rapids’ civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Big Rapids is ahead of 90% of U.S. towns, #81 of 697 in Michigan. Big Rapids is graded on two of the three inputs. Both 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 →
38 community nonprofits are registered in Big Rapids
4.5 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 (10 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
14.9%
14.9% of Big Rapids’ Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 12.4% in the typical Michigan 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 Big Rapids’ residents live; 2022.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
112K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
21,545 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 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Big Rapids Community Library serves 11,332 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 59 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Big Rapids Community Library system. The library’s own count.
About 3 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.
Find it
Big Rapids Community Library, 426 South Michigan Avenue, Big Rapids.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Big Rapids Community Library branch.
New in Big Rapids? The Handbook →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 $5.34 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Big Rapids cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $342K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.8M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $342K budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
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 2,702 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Big Rapids Community Library serves 11,332 people in and around Big Rapids, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Big Rapids.
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 Big Rapids
Does Big Rapids have a public library?
Yes. Big Rapids Community Library, 426 South Michigan Avenue, serves 11,332 people in and around Big Rapids (the survey’s count) and is open about 36 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Big Rapids Community Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Big Rapids’ library?
It logged 3.1 visits and lent 9.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Big Rapids’ civic life grade?
A Big Rapids is ahead of 90% of U.S. towns on civic life, #81 of 697 in Michigan. 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 Big Rapids.
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.