John Carveth House · Photo: rossograph · CC BY-SA 4.0Thornapple Township’s library logs 0.2 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Thornapple Kellogg School and Community Library serves 18,577 people in and around Thornapple Township. Last year it lent 28K print books and media and logged 4,128 visits.
The short version on Thornapple Township’s library
Thornapple Kellogg School and Community Library is used less than most libraries its size
Thornapple Kellogg School and Community Library records 0.2 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people. Borrowing is 1.5 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $9 per resident, against a typical $43. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Thornapple Kellogg School and Community Library offered 7 programs last year, 0.4 per 1,000 residents against a typical 24. Kids & programs ↓
Open only about 16 hours a week
The Thornapple Township branch keeps short hours: about 16 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Thornapple Kellogg School and Community Library charges late fines on some overdue items. Two of the three libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 17% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 40% for its size. How it compares ↓
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; Thornapple Kellogg School and Community Library serves 18,577 people in and around Thornapple Township, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Thornapple Township’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Thornapple Township is ahead of 50% of U.S. towns, #476 of 697 in Michigan. Thornapple Township is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Thornapple 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 →
16 community nonprofits are registered in Thornapple Township
1.6 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 (6 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
12.3%
12.3% of Thornapple 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 Thornapple Township’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Thornapple Kellogg School and Community Library serves 18,577 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 35 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Thornapple Kellogg School and Community Library system. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
28K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
7 programs a year
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
Thornapple Kellogg School and Community Library, 3885 Bender Road, Middleville.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Thornapple Kellogg School and Community Library branch.
New in Thornapple 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 $2.59 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Thornapple Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $161K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $417K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $161K 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 3,114 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leighton Township | Leighton Township Library fine-free | 13.0 | 39 | B− |
| Thornapple Township | Thornapple Kellogg School and Community Library | — | 16 | B− |
| Irving Township | Freeport District Library | — | 30 | B− |
| Caledonia Township | Caledonia Branch Library fine-free | — | 47 | B |
| Yankee Springs 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.
- Digital loans not reported. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
- System-wide. Thornapple Kellogg School and Community Library serves 18,577 people in and around Thornapple Township, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Thornapple 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 Thornapple Township
Does Thornapple Township have a public library?
Yes. Thornapple Kellogg School and Community Library, 3885 Bender Road, serves 18,577 people in and around Thornapple Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 16 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Thornapple Kellogg School and Community 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 Thornapple Township’s library?
It logged 0.2 visits and lent 1.5 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Thornapple Township’s civic life grade?
B− Thornapple Township is ahead of 50% of U.S. towns on civic life, #476 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 Thornapple 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.