Photo: Charles W. Chapman · CC BY-SA 4.0White Cloud’s library lends 8.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
White Cloud Community Library serves 8,766 people in and around White Cloud. Last year it lent 86K books, movies and e-books and logged 38K visits.
What stands out about White Cloud Community Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind White Cloud’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, White Cloud is ahead of 73% of U.S. towns. White Cloud is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; White Cloud’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 →
4 community nonprofits are registered in White Cloud
3.2 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
13.1%
13.1% of White Cloud’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 White Cloud’s residents live; 2022.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
86K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
8,404 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
White Cloud Community Library serves 8,766 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 37 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole White Cloud Community Library system. The library’s own count.
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
White Cloud Community Library, 1038 Wilcox Avenue, White Cloud.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every White Cloud Community Library branch.
New in White Cloud? 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 $3.63 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average White Cloud cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $391K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $391K 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 3,125 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| White Cloud | White Cloud Community Library | — | 45 | B+ |
| Wilcox Township | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
| Everett 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. White Cloud Community Library serves 8,766 people in and around White Cloud, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just White Cloud.
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 White Cloud
Does White Cloud have a public library?
Yes. White Cloud Community Library, 1038 Wilcox Avenue, serves 8,766 people in and around White Cloud (the survey’s count) and is open about 45 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is White Cloud 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 White Cloud’s library?
It logged 4.4 visits and lent 9.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is White Cloud’s civic life grade?
B+ White Cloud is ahead of 73% 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 White Cloud.
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.