Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0Mount Pleasant’s library logs 3.6 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Chippewa River District Library System serves 46,057 people in and around Mount Pleasant. Last year it lent 235K books, movies and e-books and logged 164K visits.
What Mount Pleasant’s library is like
Few residents carry a card
Only 18% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 39% for its size. How it compares ↓
Most programs are for young children
71% of the 557 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 4.9 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
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; Chippewa River District Library System serves 46,057 people in and around Mount Pleasant, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Mount Pleasant’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Mount Pleasant is ahead of 86% of U.S. towns, #112 of 697 in Michigan. Mount Pleasant 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 →
94 community nonprofits are registered in Mount Pleasant
4.5 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 (17 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
11.6%
11.6% of Mount Pleasant’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 Mount Pleasant’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Chippewa River District Library System serves 46,057 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 22 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Chippewa River District Library System system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
235K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
51,461 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 8 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
Chippewa River District Library System, 301 South University, Mount Pleasant.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Chippewa River District Library System branch.
New in Mount Pleasant? 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 $1.53 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Mount Pleasant cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.5M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3.8M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.5M 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 8,073 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Chippewa River District Library System serves 46,057 people in and around Mount Pleasant, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Mount Pleasant.
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 Mount Pleasant
Does Mount Pleasant have a public library?
Yes. Chippewa River District Library System, 301 South University, serves 46,057 people in and around Mount Pleasant (the survey’s count) and is open about 62 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Chippewa River District Library System 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 Mount Pleasant’s library?
It logged 3.6 visits and lent 5.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Mount Pleasant’s civic life grade?
A Mount Pleasant is ahead of 86% of U.S. towns on civic life, #112 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 Mount Pleasant.
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.