Photo: Phoenix-Five · CC BY-SA 4.0Fife Lake Township’s library lends 17 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Fife Lake Public Library serves Fife Lake Township’s 1,526 residents. Last year it lent 25K print books and media and logged 6,500 visits.
Fife Lake Township’s library, in brief
More library cards than residents
60,859 cards for 1,526 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
Fife Lake Township is a town of borrowers
Fife Lake Public Library lends 17 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries serving under 2,500 people, more than 95% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
A small-town library
Fife Lake Public Library serves 1,526 residents with about 2 full-time staff, open about 50 hours a week. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
Kids borrow more here than almost anywhere
Children’s books and media are 28% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 87% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 42 items per child in Fife Lake Township last year. Kids & programs ↓
A place to get online
Fife Lake Public Library logs about 21 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 8 public computers. That’s 5 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
This summary is written from the numbers on this page. Numbers are the library’s own report to the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Fife Lake Township’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Fife Lake Township is ahead of 74% of U.S. towns. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Fife Lake 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 →
4 community nonprofits are registered in Fife Lake 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 (0 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
15.6%
15.6% of Fife Lake 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 Fife Lake Township’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Fife Lake Public Library serves 1,526 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 10 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
25K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 23K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.1 time last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Fife Lake Township last year.
Find it
Fife Lake Public Library, 77 Lakecrest Lane, Fife Lake.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Fife Lake 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 $1.97 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Fife Lake Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $226K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $444K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $226K 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fife Lake Township | Fife Lake Public Library | 16.7 | 50 | B+ |
| Paradise Township | Kingsley Public Library Branch | — | 48 | A− |
| Liberty Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Springfield Township | None of its own | — | — | A− |
| Union Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Greenwood Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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. Fife Lake Public 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.
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 Fife Lake Township
Does Fife Lake Township have a public library?
Yes. Fife Lake Public Library, 77 Lakecrest Lane, serves Fife Lake Township’s 1,526 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Fife Lake Public 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 Fife Lake Township’s library?
It logged 4.3 visits and lent 16.7 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Fife Lake Township’s civic life grade?
B+ Fife Lake Township is ahead of 74% 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 Fife Lake 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.