Quincy, Omaha and Kansas City Railroad Office Building · Photo: Jon Roanhaus · CC BY-SA 4.0Milan’s library logs 0.5 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Sullivan County Public Library serves 5,999 people in and around Milan. Last year it lent 4,262 books, movies and e-books and logged 3,232 visits.
The short version on Milan’s library
Sullivan County Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Sullivan County Public Library records 0.5 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people. Borrowing is 0.7 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8. It also spends less than most: $10 per resident, against a typical $43. How it compares ↓
Runs on less money than most
Sullivan County Public Library spends $10 per resident, less than 95% of similar-size libraries (typical: $43). 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; Sullivan County Public Library serves 5,999 people in and around Milan, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Milan’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Milan is ahead of 72% of U.S. towns. Milan is graded on two of the three inputs. Milan’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 →
13 community nonprofits are registered in Milan
7.0 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. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.0%
7.0% of Milan’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 Milan’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Sullivan County Public Library serves 5,999 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 3 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Sullivan County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
4,262 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
What kids borrow
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Find it
Sullivan County Public Library, 109 E Second St., Milan.
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 $1.12 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Milan cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $63K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $70K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $63K 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 3,857 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Sullivan County Public Library serves 5,999 people in and around Milan, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Milan.
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 Milan
Does Milan have a public library?
Yes. Sullivan County Public Library, 109 E Second St., serves 5,999 people in and around Milan (the survey’s count) and is open about 27 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Sullivan County Public Library fine-free?
It charges late fines on some overdue items (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Milan’s library?
It logged 0.5 visits and lent 0.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Milan’s civic life grade?
B+ Milan is ahead of 72% 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 Milan.
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.