Photo: rossograph · CC BY-SA 4.0Colon Township’s library lends 7 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Colon Township Library serves 3,790 people in and around Colon Township. Last year it lent 27K print books and media and logged 13K visits.
What stands out about Colon Township Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Colon Township’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Colon Township is ahead of 63% of U.S. towns, #339 of 697 in Michigan. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Colon 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 →
10 community nonprofits are registered in Colon Township
3.1 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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
12.6%
12.6% of Colon 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 Colon Township’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Colon Township Library serves 3,790 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 14 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Colon Township Library system. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
27K 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 1 kids’ program 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
Colon Township Library, 128 South Blackstone Avenue, Colon.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Colon Township Library branch.
New in Colon 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 $2.71 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Colon Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $160K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $434K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $160K 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 5,227 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burr Oak Township | Burr Oak Township Library | 0.6 | 28 | C |
| Colon Township | Colon Township Library | — | 36 | B |
| Nottawa Township | Nottawa Township Library fine-free | — | 42 | A |
| Matteson Township | None of its own | — | — | B |
| Leonidas Township | None of its own | — | — | — too few inputs |
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. Colon Township Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
- Digital loans not reported. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
- System-wide. Colon Township Library serves 3,790 people in and around Colon Township, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Colon 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 Colon Township
Does Colon Township have a public library?
Yes. Colon Township Library, 128 South Blackstone Avenue, serves 3,790 people in and around Colon Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 36 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Colon Township 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 Colon Township’s library?
It logged 3.4 visits and lent 7.0 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Colon Township’s civic life grade?
B Colon Township is ahead of 63% of U.S. towns on civic life, #339 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 Colon 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.