Photo: Bazaarshop · CC BY-SA 3.0Lake Odessa’s library lends 6.2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Lake Odessa Community Library serves 4,293 people in and around Lake Odessa. Last year it lent 32K books, movies and e-books and logged 20K visits.
What stands out about Lake Odessa Community Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Lake Odessa’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Lake Odessa is ahead of 71% of U.S. towns. Lake Odessa is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Lake Odessa’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 →
6 community nonprofits are registered in Lake Odessa
2.8 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
15.0%
15.0% of Lake Odessa’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 Lake Odessa’s residents live; 2022.
About 2 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Lake Odessa Community Library serves 4,293 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 16 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Lake Odessa Community Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
32K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
5,958 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Lake Odessa Community Library, 1007 Fourth Avenue, Lake Odessa.
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 Lake Odessa Community Library branch.
New in Lake Odessa? 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 $1.83 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Lake Odessa cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $296K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $542K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $296K 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 2,046 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Lake Odessa Community Library serves 4,293 people in and around Lake Odessa, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Lake Odessa.
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 Lake Odessa
Does Lake Odessa have a public library?
Yes. Lake Odessa Community Library, 1007 Fourth Avenue, serves 4,293 people in and around Lake Odessa (the survey’s count) and is open about 39 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lake Odessa Community 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 Lake Odessa’s library?
It logged 4.7 visits and lent 7.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Lake Odessa’s civic life grade?
B+ Lake Odessa is ahead of 71% 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 Lake Odessa.
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.