Decatur Township’s library runs 52 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Van Buren District Library serves 44,230 people in and around Decatur Township. Last year it lent 311K books, movies and e-books and logged 132K visits.
What stands out about Van Buren District Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Decatur Township’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Decatur Township is ahead of 54% of U.S. towns, #441 of 697 in Michigan. Decatur Township is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Decatur 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 Decatur Township
2.9 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.
9.5%
9.5% of Decatur 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 Decatur Township’s residents live; 2022.
About 18 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Van Buren District Library serves 44,230 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 18 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Van Buren District Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
311K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
41,356 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Van Buren District Library, 200 North Phelps Street, Decatur.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Van Buren District Library branch.
New in Decatur 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 $2.36 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Decatur Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $5.1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.1M 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 15,439 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decatur Township | Van Buren District Library fine-free | — | 54 | B− |
| Paw Paw Township | Paw Paw District Library fine-free | — | 54 | A− |
| Porter Township | None of its own | — | — | B |
| Hamilton Township | None of its own | — | — | B− |
| Volinia Township | None of its own | — | — | B |
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.
- System-wide. Van Buren District Library serves 44,230 people in and around Decatur Township, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Decatur 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 Decatur Township
Does Decatur Township have a public library?
Yes. Van Buren District Library, 200 North Phelps Street, serves 44,230 people in and around Decatur Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 54 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Van Buren District 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 Decatur Township’s library?
It logged 3.0 visits and lent 7.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Decatur Township’s civic life grade?
B− Decatur Township is ahead of 54% of U.S. towns on civic life, #441 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 Decatur 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.