Photo: Phoenix-Five · CC BY-SA 4.0Fife Lake’s library lends 17 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Fife Lake Public Library serves 1,526 people in and around Fife Lake. Last year it lent 25K print books and media and logged 6,500 visits.
What Fife Lake’s library is like
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 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. Kids & programs ↓
Fife Lake Public Library serves more than Fife Lake
The library’s service area covers 1,526 people in and around Fife Lake, so its per-resident numbers are measured against that wider population. How it compares ↓
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’s civic life grade
Fife Lake isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
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.
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? 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 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.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- 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
Does Fife Lake have a public library?
Yes. Fife Lake Public Library, 77 Lakecrest Lane, serves 1,526 people in and around Fife Lake (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’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’s civic life grade?
Fife Lake isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Fife Lake.
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.