Hall-Fowler Memorial Library · Photo: Gpwitteveen · CC BY-SA 3.0Ionia’s library logs 1.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Ionia Community Library serves 23,680 people in and around Ionia. Last year it lent 74K books, movies and e-books and logged 40K visits.
The short version on Ionia’s library
The branch is a National Register landmark
Hall-Fowler Memorial Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1971. Today’s library there has 5,500 square feet. The building ↓
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, Ionia Community Library sits below the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on three. 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; Ionia Community Library serves 23,680 people in and around Ionia, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Ionia’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Ionia is ahead of 86% of U.S. towns, #109 of 697 in Michigan. Ionia is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups ranks highest.
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 →
49 community nonprofits are registered in Ionia
3.8 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 (12 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 3 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
18.5%
18.5% of Ionia’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 Ionia’s residents live; 2022.
A National Register landmark since 1971
Ionia Community Library, 126 East Main Street, Ionia.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Ionia Community Library branch.
New in Ionia? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Hall-Fowler Memorial Library
Hall-Fowler Memorial Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 6, 1971. It is significant for its architecture at the local level. Its architecture is described as Italianate.
The Hall-Fowler Memorial Library, also known as the Frederick Hall House, is a former mansion located at 126 East Main Street in Ionia, Michigan. It now houses the Ionia Community Library. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, and is part of the Historic American Buildings Survey.
More about the building →Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Ionia Community Library serves 23,680 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 28 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Ionia Community Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
74K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
14,879 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 3 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.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.63 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Ionia cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $730K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $730K 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 5,357 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ionia | Ionia Community Library | — | 50 | A |
| Ionia Township | None of its own | — | — | B− |
| Easton Township | None of its own | — | — | B− |
| Berlin Township | None of its own | — | — | B− |
| Orange Township | None 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).
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Ionia Community Library serves 23,680 people in and around Ionia, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Ionia.
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 Ionia
Does Ionia have a public library?
Yes. Ionia Community Library, 126 East Main Street, serves 23,680 people in and around Ionia (the survey’s count) and is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Ionia Community 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 Ionia’s library?
It logged 1.7 visits and lent 3.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Ionia’s civic life grade?
A Ionia is ahead of 86% of U.S. towns on civic life, #109 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 Ionia.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.