Odessa Township’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 Odessa Township. 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 Odessa Township’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Odessa Township is ahead of 75% of U.S. towns, #210 of 697 in Michigan. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Odessa Township’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 →
12 community nonprofits are registered in Odessa Township
3.0 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 (7 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
15.0%
15.0% of Odessa 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 Odessa Township’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 Odessa Township? 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 Odessa Township 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.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woodland Township | George W. Spindler Memorial Library fine-free | 2.4 | 20 | C |
| Odessa Township | Lake Odessa Community Library fine-free | — | 39 | A− |
| Campbell Township | Clarksville Area Library fine-free | — | 48 | B |
| Sebewa Township | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
| Berlin 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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Lake Odessa Community Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
- System-wide. Lake Odessa Community Library serves 4,293 people in and around Odessa Township, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Odessa Township.
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 Odessa Township
Does Odessa Township have a public library?
Yes. Lake Odessa Community Library, 1007 Fourth Avenue, serves 4,293 people in and around Odessa Township (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 Odessa Township’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 Odessa Township’s civic life grade?
A− Odessa Township is ahead of 75% of U.S. towns on civic life, #210 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 Odessa Township.
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.