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Napoleon Branch Library · part of Jackson District Library

Napoleon Township’s library is a branch of Jackson District Library, which lends more per resident than 89% of systems its size

Napoleon Township’s library is the Napoleon Branch Library, a branch of Jackson District Library, which serves 160,366 people and lent 1.5M items last year.

6755 Brooklyn Road, Napoleon 49261 · about 25 hours a week
B−Civic lifeAhead of 50% of U.S. towns · #477 of 697 in Michigan. Nonprofits and volunteering.
Borrowed a year
1.5M
9.6 per resident
Visits a year
392K
2.4 per resident · Above typical (2.1)
Programs & events
2,253
about 43 a week · 46K attended
Cardholders
28%
45,628 cards
Open
25 hrs
a week at this branch

What stands out about Napoleon Branch Library

Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.

Civic life grade

What’s behind Napoleon Township’s civic life grade

On community nonprofits and volunteering, Napoleon Township is ahead of 50% of U.S. towns, #477 of 697 in Michigan. Napoleon Township is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Napoleon Township’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.

B−
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Napoleon Township’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 50%
FewerMore
Michigan towns we grade (697)Ahead of 32%
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $55K–$92K (9,263)Ahead of 47%

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.

How sure. Graded on two inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. Napoleon Township is small (6,706 residents), so a few dozen organizations or visits move its per-resident figures; the volunteering share is a 2022 estimate from Facebook users aged 25–44.

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 →

Places to belong

19 community nonprofits are registered in Napoleon Township

2.8 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture10.15 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation40.53 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans40.62 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services40.58 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education30.40 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.43
Health10.09 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.16
Environment & animals10.10 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.17
Other20.31 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.47

Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.

Volunteering

9.2%

9.2% of Napoleon 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 Napoleon Township’s residents live; 2022.

★ What stands out · What people borrow

Mostly books and media off the shelf

1.5M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.

1.5Mloans
Books & media (adults) 60%Kids’ books & media 23%E-books, audio & streaming 17%
From your couch

259,506 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.

How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 2.4 visits · typical 2.1Higher than 62%
Borrowing per resident 8 print items · typical 3.2Higher than 89%
Digital borrowing 1.6 e-items · typical 1.4Higher than 55%
Kids’ borrowing 2.2 kids’ items · typical 1.6Higher than 63%
Program attendance 0.3 attendees · typical 0.2Higher than 68%
Programs offered 14 per 1,000 residents · typical 9Higher than 72%
Cardholders 28% of residents · typical 41%Lower than 75%
Spending $57 per resident · typical $36Higher than 74%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

Jackson District Library serves 160,366 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.

A year at the library

Every hour the doors are open, about 62 items go out

Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Jackson District Library system. The library’s own count.

392K
visits
2.4 per resident
1.5M
loans, print + digital
9.6 per resident
2,253
programs & events
46K attended
46K
library cards
28% of people served
Every open hour62items borrowed
Every week889people at a program
Every day92Wi-Fi sessions
103 staff (full-time equivalent)88 public computers
Kids & programs

About 27 kids’ programs a week

Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.

Schools in Napoleon Township →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–5710
Ages 6–11710
Teens68
Adults429
All ages336
Little ones
13.7

story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.

352K
kids’ books & media borrowed
46K
people at programs
2,253
programs
The building

Find it

Napoleon Branch Library, 6755 Brooklyn Road, Napoleon.

25
hours open a week
750
square feet
With a card

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 Jackson District Library branch.

New in Napoleon Township? The Handbook →

Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.

What your card is worth

For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.65 worth

Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Napoleon Township cardholder borrows.

In a month I’d use…
Books$17 each
2
Kids’ books$12 each
1
E-books & audio$15 each
0
Movies & music$4 each
0
Programs & classes$10 a program
0
Computer & Wi-Fi$3 a session
0
Your card saves you about
$552
a year at retail prices · $46 a month

Who pays for it
$57 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $9.2M.

Local taxes 89%State 3%Gifts & other 7%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $24M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $9.2M 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 45,628 cardholders ÷ 12.

Next door

Libraries next door

Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.

12+ loans per resident8–124–8Under 4No library / shared system
TownLibraryLoans per residentHoursCivic life
Napoleon TownshipNapoleon Branch Library fine-free—25B−
Columbia TownshipBrooklyn Branch Library fine-free—45B
Leoni TownshipEastern Branch Library fine-free—60C+
Summit TownshipSummit Branch Library fine-free—49C−
Grass Lake TownshipGrass Lake Branch Library fine-free—37A−
Norvell TownshipNone 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).

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.

  • System-wide. Napoleon Branch Library is one branch of Jackson District Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 160,366 people it serves.

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 Napoleon Township

Does Napoleon Township have a public library?

Yes: Napoleon Branch Library, 6755 Brooklyn Road, is a branch of Jackson District Library, which serves 160,366 people. The branch is open about 25 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Jackson District 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 Napoleon Township’s library?

It logged 2.4 visits and lent 9.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.

What is Napoleon Township’s civic life grade?

B− Napoleon Township is ahead of 50% of U.S. towns on civic life, #477 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 Napoleon Township.

Town Square →
Start a conversation

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.