First Congregational Church · Photo: Howenstein115 14:59, 24 November 2008 (UTC) · CC BY 3.0Richmond’s library logs 2.2 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Lois Wagner Memorial Library serves 11,627 people in and around Richmond. Last year it lent 50K books, movies and e-books and logged 26K visits.
What Richmond’s library is like
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
71% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 28%. What your card is worth ↓
Programs lean toward adults
59% of the 263 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 97 were for children. 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; Lois Wagner Memorial Library serves 11,627 people in and around Richmond, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Richmond’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Richmond is ahead of 79% of U.S. towns, #178 of 697 in Michigan. Richmond 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 →
27 community nonprofits are registered in Richmond
4.6 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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 (5 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.5%
9.5% of Richmond’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 Richmond’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Lois Wagner Memorial Library serves 11,627 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 19 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Lois Wagner Memorial Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
50K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
5,600 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
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.
Find it
Lois Wagner Memorial Library, 35200 Division Road, Richmond.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Lois Wagner Memorial Library branch.
New in Richmond? 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 $1.97 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Richmond cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $387K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $761K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $387K 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 3,528 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lenox Township | Lenox Township Library | 1.7 | 48 | C− |
| Richmond | Lois Wagner Memorial Library | — | 50 | A− |
| Richmond Township | None of its own | — | — | C |
| Casco Township | None of its own | — | — | C |
| Columbus 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.
- System-wide. Lois Wagner Memorial Library serves 11,627 people in and around Richmond, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Richmond.
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 Richmond
Does Richmond have a public library?
Yes. Lois Wagner Memorial Library, 35200 Division Road, serves 11,627 people in and around Richmond (the survey’s count) and is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lois Wagner Memorial Library 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 Richmond’s library?
It logged 2.2 visits and lent 4.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Richmond’s civic life grade?
A− Richmond is ahead of 79% of U.S. towns on civic life, #178 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 Richmond.
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.