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Hesperia Community Library

Denver Township’s library logs 4.2 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size

Hesperia Community Library serves 5,839 people in and around Denver Township. Last year it lent 23K books, movies and e-books and logged 24K visits.

80 South Division Street, Hesperia 49421 · about 47 hours a week
BCivic lifeAhead of 60% of U.S. towns. Nonprofits and volunteering.
Borrowed a year
23K
4 per resident
Visits a year
24K
4.2 per resident · Above typical (3)
Programs & events
128
about 2 a week · 2,743 attended
Cardholders
28%
1,647 cards
Open
47 hrs
a week at this branch

What stands out about Hesperia Community Library

Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.

Civic life grade

What’s behind Denver Township’s civic life grade

On community nonprofits and volunteering, Denver Township is ahead of 60% of U.S. towns. Denver Township is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Denver Township’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.

B
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Denver Township’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 60%
FewerMore
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $31K–$52K (2,462)Ahead of 66%

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.

How sure. Graded on two inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. Denver Township is small (2,088 residents), so a few dozen organizations or visits move its per-resident figures; the volunteering share is a 2022 estimate from Facebook users aged 25–44.

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 →

Places to belong

4 community nonprofits are registered in Denver Township

2.0 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture00.06 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation00.11 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans20.94 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services10.39 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education00.22 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.43
Health00.06 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.16
Environment & animals00.22 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.17

Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.

Volunteering

17.6%

17.6% of Denver 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 Denver Township’s residents live; 2022.

How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 4.2 visits · typical 3Higher than 67%
Borrowing per resident 2.8 print items · typical 3.8Lower than 64%
Digital borrowing 1.2 e-items · typical 1Higher than 57%
Kids’ borrowing 0.9 kids’ items · typical 1.6Lower than 71%
Program attendance 0.5 attendees · typical 0.5Lower than 52%
Programs offered 21.9 per 1,000 residents · typical 34Lower than 67%
Cardholders 28% of residents · typical 42%Lower than 73%
Spending $50 per resident · typical $43Higher than 60%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

Hesperia Community Library serves 5,839 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.

A year at the library

Every hour the doors are open, about 10 items go out

Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Hesperia Community Library system. The library’s own count.

24K
visits
4.2 per resident
23K
loans, print + digital
4 per resident
128
programs & events
2,743 attended
1,647
library cards
28% of people served
Every open hour10items borrowed
Every week53people at a program
Every day49Wi-Fi sessions
4 staff (full-time equivalent)13 public computers
What people borrow

Mostly books and media off the shelf

23K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.

23Kloans
Books & media (adults) 49%Kids’ books & media 22%E-books, audio & streaming 29%
From your couch

6,876 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.

Kids & programs

About 2 kids’ programs a week

Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.

Schools in Denver Township →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–552
Ages 6–1128
Teens18
Adults27
All ages3
Little ones
1

story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.

5,117
kids’ books & media borrowed
2,743
people at programs
128
programs
The building

Find it

Hesperia Community Library, 80 South Division Street, Hesperia.

47
hours open a week
11,900
square feet
With a card

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 Hesperia Community Library branch.

New in Denver Township? The Handbook →

Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.

What your card is worth

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 Denver Township cardholder borrows.

In a month I’d use…
Books$17 each
1
Kids’ books$12 each
0
E-books & audio$15 each
0
Movies & music$4 each
0
Programs & classes$10 a program
0
Computer & Wi-Fi$3 a session
1
Your card saves you about
$240
a year at retail prices · $20 a month

Who pays for it
$50 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $294K.

Local taxes 70%State 2%Gifts & other 28%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $441K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $294K 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 1,647 cardholders ÷ 12.

Next door

Libraries next door

Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.

12+ loans per resident8–124–8Under 4No library / shared system
TownLibraryLoans per residentHoursCivic life
Denver TownshipHesperia Community Library fine-free—47B
Beaver TownshipNone of its own——— under 1,000 residents
Dayton TownshipNone of its own——A
Lincoln TownshipNone of its own——B
Newfield TownshipNone 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).

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.

  • System-wide. Hesperia Community Library serves 5,839 people in and around Denver Township, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Denver 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 Denver Township

Does Denver Township have a public library?

Yes. Hesperia Community Library, 80 South Division Street, serves 5,839 people in and around Denver Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 47 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Hesperia Community 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 Denver Township’s library?

It logged 4.2 visits and lent 4.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.

What is Denver Township’s civic life grade?

B Denver Township is ahead of 60% 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 Denver Township.

Town Square →
Start a conversation

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.