East Bay Township’s library is a branch of Traverse Area District Library, which lends more per resident than 91% of systems its size
East Bay Township’s library is the East Bay Branch Library, a branch of Traverse Area District Library, which serves 106,726 people and lent 1.1M items last year.
What stands out about East Bay Branch Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind East Bay Township’s civic life grade
East Bay Township isn’t graded on civic life: its library is a branch of Traverse Area District Library, so there is no town figure for visits and the volunteering estimate doesn’t cover enough of it.
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 →
50 community nonprofits are registered in East Bay Township
4.3 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (12 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
1.1M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
186,763 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Traverse Area District Library serves 106,726 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 137 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Traverse Area District Library system. The library’s own count.
About 16 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
East Bay Branch Library, 1989 Three Mile Road, Traverse City.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Traverse Area District Library branch.
New in East Bay 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 $2.93 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average East Bay Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $6M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $17M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $6M 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 60,859 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Bay Township | East Bay Branch Library | — | 39 | — too few inputs |
| Traverse City | Traverse Area District Library | — | 67 | A |
| Paradise Township | Kingsley Public Library Branch | — | 48 | A− |
| Union Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Blair Township | None of its own | — | — | — too few inputs |
| Whitewater Township | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
| Acme Township | None of its own | — | — | A |
| Garfield 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.
- System-wide. East Bay Branch Library is one branch of Traverse Area District Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 106,726 people it serves.
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 East Bay Township
Does East Bay Township have a public library?
Yes: East Bay Branch Library, 1989 Three Mile Road, is a branch of Traverse Area District Library, which serves 106,726 people. The branch is open about 39 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Traverse Area 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 East Bay Township’s library?
It logged 3.4 visits and lent 10.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is East Bay Township’s civic life grade?
East Bay Township isn’t graded on civic life: its library is a branch of Traverse Area District Library, so there is no town figure for visits and the volunteering estimate doesn’t cover enough of it. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in East Bay 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.