Castleton Township’s library logs 1.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Putnam District Library serves 6,728 people in and around Castleton Township. Last year it lent 13K print books and media and logged 8,684 visits.
What Castleton Township’s library is like
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, Putnam District Library sits below the middle on all six per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on three. How it compares ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Putnam District Library charges late fines on some overdue items. Two of the three libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 17% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 42% 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; Putnam District Library serves 6,728 people in and around Castleton Township, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Castleton Township’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Castleton Township is ahead of 55% of U.S. towns, #428 of 697 in Michigan. Castleton Township is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Castleton Township’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 →
5 community nonprofits are registered in Castleton Township
1.5 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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
16.8%
16.8% of Castleton Township’s 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 Castleton Township’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Putnam District Library serves 6,728 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 7 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Putnam District Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
13K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 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
Putnam District Library, 327 North Main Street, Nashville.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Putnam District Library branch.
New in Castleton Township? 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 $1.50 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Castleton Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $145K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $218K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $145K 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 1,123 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woodland Township | George W. Spindler Memorial Library fine-free | 2.4 | 20 | C |
| Castleton Township | Putnam District Library | — | 35 | B− |
| Vermontville Township | Vermontville Township Library fine-free | — | 32 | B |
| Nashville | Putnam District Library | — | 35 | B− |
| Maple Grove Township | None of its own | — | — | B− |
| Hastings Township | None of its own | — | — | A− |
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. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
- System-wide. Putnam District Library serves 6,728 people in and around Castleton Township, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Castleton Township.
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 Castleton Township
Does Castleton Township have a public library?
Yes. Putnam District Library, 327 North Main Street, serves 6,728 people in and around Castleton Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 35 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Putnam District 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 Castleton Township’s library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 2.0 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Castleton Township’s civic life grade?
B− Castleton Township is ahead of 55% of U.S. towns on civic life, #428 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 Castleton Township.
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.