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Dewitt District Library

DeWitt Township’s library lends 5.2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size

Dewitt District Library serves 21,900 people in and around DeWitt Township. Last year it lent 166K books, movies and e-books and logged 72K visits.

13101 Schavey Road, Dewitt 48820 · about 59 hours a week
B−Civic lifeAhead of 54% of U.S. towns · #445 of 697 in Michigan. Nonprofits and volunteering.
Borrowed a year
166K
7.6 per resident
Visits a year
72K
3.3 per resident · Above typical (3.1)
Programs & events
659
about 13 a week · 12K attended
Cardholders
43%
9,366 cards
Open
59 hrs
a week at this branch

What stands out about Dewitt District Library

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

Civic life grade

What’s behind DeWitt Township’s civic life grade

On community nonprofits and volunteering, DeWitt Township is ahead of 54% of U.S. towns, #445 of 697 in Michigan. DeWitt Township is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; DeWitt Township’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.

B−
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of DeWitt Township’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 54%
FewerMore
Michigan towns we grade (697)Ahead of 36%
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $73K–$121K (7,530)Ahead of 56%

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. 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

34 community nonprofits are registered in DeWitt Township

2.3 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture20.16 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation70.45 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans60.38 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services70.44 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education50.31 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.43
Health00.03 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.16
Environment & animals20.16 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.17
Other50.31 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.47

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.

Volunteering

11.2%

11.2% of DeWitt 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 DeWitt Township’s residents live; 2022.

How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 3.3 visits · typical 3.1Higher than 54%
Borrowing per resident 5.2 print items · typical 3.9Higher than 64%
Digital borrowing 2.4 e-items · typical 1.1Higher than 82%
Kids’ borrowing 3.1 kids’ items · typical 1.8Higher than 74%
Program attendance 0.6 attendees · typical 0.4Higher than 62%
Programs offered 30.1 per 1,000 residents · typical 24Higher than 63%
Cardholders 43% of residents · typical 40%Higher than 56%
Spending $37 per resident · typical $43Lower than 59%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

Dewitt District Library serves 21,900 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.

A year at the library

Every hour the doors are open, about 54 items go out

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

72K
visits
3.3 per resident
166K
loans, print + digital
7.6 per resident
659
programs & events
12K attended
9,366
library cards
43% of people served
Every open hour54items borrowed
Every week234people at a program
Every day7Wi-Fi sessions
10 staff (full-time equivalent)20 public computers
What people borrow

More than half the print loans are kids’ books

166K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.

166Kloans
Books & media (adults) 27%Kids’ books & media 41%E-books, audio & streaming 32%
From your couch

52,959 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 7 kids’ programs a week

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

Schools in DeWitt Township →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–5169
Ages 6–11216
Teens138
Adults119
All ages17
Little ones
3.3

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

68K
kids’ books & media borrowed
12K
people at programs
659
programs
The building

Find it

Dewitt District Library, 13101 Schavey Road, Dewitt.

59
hours open a week
5,600
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 Dewitt District Library branch.

New in DeWitt 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 $3.07 worth

Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average DeWitt Township cardholder borrows.

In a month I’d use…
Books$17 each
1
Kids’ books$12 each
1
E-books & audio$15 each
0
Movies & music$4 each
0
Programs & classes$10 a program
0
Computer & Wi-Fi$3 a session
0
Your card saves you about
$348
a year at retail prices · $29 a month

Who pays for it
$37 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $818K.

Local taxes 93%State 2%Gifts & other 5%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $818K 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 9,366 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
East LansingEast Lansing Public Library fine-free6.363A
Bath TownshipBath Township Public Library fine-free0.553C
DeWitt TownshipDewitt District Library fine-free—59B−
LansingCapital Area District Library fine-free—63A
Olive TownshipNone of its own——A−
Lansing TownshipNone of its own——B−
Watertown 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. Dewitt District Library serves 21,900 people in and around DeWitt Township, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just DeWitt 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 DeWitt Township

Does DeWitt Township have a public library?

Yes. Dewitt District Library, 13101 Schavey Road, serves 21,900 people in and around DeWitt Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 59 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Dewitt 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 DeWitt Township’s library?

It logged 3.3 visits and lent 7.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.

What is DeWitt Township’s civic life grade?

B− DeWitt Township is ahead of 54% of U.S. towns on civic life, #445 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 DeWitt 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.