Photo: Dwight Burdette · CC BY 3.0Ridgeway Township’s library is a branch of Lenawee District Library, which lends less per resident than 60% of systems its size
Ridgeway Township’s library is the Britton Branch Library, a branch of Lenawee District Library, which serves 40,514 people and lent 161K items last year.
The short version on Ridgeway Township’s library
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
The Lenawee District Library system charges late fines on some overdue items. Two of the three libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Open only about 21 hours a week
The Ridgeway Township branch keeps short hours: about 21 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
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; Ridgeway Township’s library is a branch of Lenawee District Library, so they cover the whole system (40,514 people), not just the Ridgeway Township branch.
What’s behind Ridgeway Township’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Ridgeway Township is ahead of 53% of U.S. towns. Ridgeway Township is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Ridgeway 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 →
2 community nonprofits are registered in Ridgeway Township
1.1 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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
16.6%
16.6% of Ridgeway 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 Ridgeway Township’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Lenawee District Library serves 40,514 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 17 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Lenawee District Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
161K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
39,784 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 10 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
Britton Branch Library, 120 College Avenue, Britton.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Lenawee District Library branch.
New in Ridgeway 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 $2.36 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Ridgeway Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.1M 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 9,415 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blissfield Township | Schultz-Holmes Memorial Library fine-free | 3.3 | 39 | — graded with its twin city |
| Ridgeway Township | Britton Branch Library | — | 21 | B− |
| Deerfield Township | Deerfield Branch Library | — | 22 | A |
| Dundee Township | Dundee Branch Library fine-free | — | 47 | B |
| Raisin Township | None of its own | — | — | B− |
| Macon 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. Britton Branch Library is one branch of Lenawee District Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 40,514 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 Ridgeway Township
Does Ridgeway Township have a public library?
Yes: Britton Branch Library, 120 College Avenue, is a branch of Lenawee District Library, which serves 40,514 people. The branch is open about 21 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lenawee District 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 Ridgeway Township’s library?
It logged 1.2 visits and lent 4.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Ridgeway Township’s civic life grade?
B− Ridgeway Township is ahead of 53% 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 Ridgeway 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.