Photo: Tim Kiser (w:User:Malepheasant) · CC BY-SA 2.5Ontonagon’s library lends 3.3 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Ontonagon Township Library serves 3,182 people in and around Ontonagon. Last year it lent 13K books, movies and e-books and logged 9,500 visits.
What stands out about Ontonagon Township Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Ontonagon’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Ontonagon is among the top 1% of U.S. towns. Ontonagon is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs put Ontonagon near the top nationally; 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 →
22 community nonprofits are registered in Ontonagon
16.2 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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
24.4%
24.4% of Ontonagon’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 Ontonagon’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Ontonagon Township Library serves 3,182 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 5 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Ontonagon Township Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
13K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
2,627 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 1 kids’ program 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
Ontonagon Township Library, 311 North Steel Street, Ontonagon.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Ontonagon Township Library branch.
New in Ontonagon? 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 $4.27 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Ontonagon cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $50K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $212K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $50K 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 1,008 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ontonagon | Ontonagon Township Library fine-free | — | 34 | A+ |
| Ontonagon Township | Ontonagon Township Library fine-free | — | 34 | A+ |
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. Ontonagon Township Library serves 3,182 people in and around Ontonagon, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Ontonagon.
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 Ontonagon
Does Ontonagon have a public library?
Yes. Ontonagon Township Library, 311 North Steel Street, serves 3,182 people in and around Ontonagon (the survey’s count) and is open about 34 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Ontonagon Township 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 Ontonagon’s library?
It logged 3.0 visits and lent 4.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Ontonagon’s civic life grade?
A+ Ontonagon is among the top 1% 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 Ontonagon.
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.