Photo: Chris Yunker · CC BY-SA 2.0Maplewood’s library lends 8.7 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Maplewood Public Library serves Maplewood’s 8,269 residents. Last year it lent 91K books, movies and e-books and logged 45K visits.
What Maplewood’s library is like
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 58% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 91% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 29 items per child in Maplewood last year. Kids & programs ↓
Top 10% in Missouri for kids’ borrowing
Maplewood ranks #4 of 50 Missouri towns with a library of their own for children’s items borrowed per child. How it compares ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Maplewood Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. All four libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
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.
What’s behind Maplewood’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Maplewood is ahead of 91% of U.S. towns, #27 of 229 in Missouri. All three 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 →
47 community nonprofits are registered in Maplewood
5.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (13 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
12.0%
12.0% of Maplewood’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 9.3% in the typical Missouri 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 Maplewood’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Maplewood Public Library serves 8,269 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 29 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
91K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 38K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.9 times last year, on average.
19,625 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, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Maplewood last year.
Find it
Maplewood Public Library, 7550 Lohmeyer Ave, Maplewood.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Maplewood? 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 $2.32 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Maplewood cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $575K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $575K 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 5,972 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Maplewood ranks 3rd of 5 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brentwood | Brentwood Public Library fine-free | 15.9 | 65 | A− |
| Richmond Heights | Richmond Heights Memorial Library fine-free | 13.1 | 61 | A+ |
| Maplewood | Maplewood Public Library | 11.1 | 60 | A |
| Webster Groves | City of Webster Groves Municipal Library fine-free | 11.0 | 66 | A− |
| St. Louis | Central Library fine-free | 8.6 | 64 | A− |
| Shrewsbury | None of its own | — | — | A |
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.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Maplewood
Does Maplewood have a public library?
Yes. Maplewood Public Library, 7550 Lohmeyer Ave, serves Maplewood’s 8,269 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 60 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Maplewood Public 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 Maplewood’s library?
It logged 5.5 visits and lent 11.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Maplewood’s civic life grade?
A Maplewood is ahead of 91% of U.S. towns on civic life, #27 of 229 in Missouri. 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 Maplewood.
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.