Photo: Jake DeGroot · CC BY-SA 3.0Appleton’s library is a branch of Pioneerland Library System, which lends less per resident than 56% of systems its size
Appleton’s library is the Appleton Public Library, a branch of Pioneerland Library System, which serves 161,633 people and lent 561K items last year.
What stands out about Appleton Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Appleton’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Appleton is ahead of 83% of U.S. towns. Appleton is graded on two of the three inputs. Appleton’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups 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 →
21 community nonprofits are registered in Appleton
15.1 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 (6 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.4%
7.4% of Appleton’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.4% in the typical Minnesota 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 Appleton’s residents live; 2022.
About 42 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Pioneerland Library System serves 161,633 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 11 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Pioneerland Library System system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
561K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
89,222 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Appleton Public Library, 50 E Rooney Ave, Appleton.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Pioneerland Library System branch.
New in Appleton? 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 $1.60 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Appleton cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $5.6M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $8.9M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $5.6M 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 46,551 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Appleton Public Library is one branch of Pioneerland Library System, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 161,633 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 Appleton
Does Appleton have a public library?
Yes: Appleton Public Library, 50 E Rooney Ave, is a branch of Pioneerland Library System, which serves 161,633 people. The branch is open about 44 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Pioneerland Library System 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 Appleton’s library?
It logged 2.4 visits and lent 3.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Appleton’s civic life grade?
A− Appleton is ahead of 83% 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 Appleton.
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.