Photo: Thomas R Machnitzki (thomasmachnitzki.com) · CC BY 3.0Steele’s library logs 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Steele Public Library serves Steele’s 1,853 residents. Last year it lent 1,400 books, movies and e-books and logged 1,507 visits.
What Steele’s library is like
Steele Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Steele Public Library records 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Borrowing is 0.5 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $10 per resident, against a typical $54. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Steele Public Library offered 2 programs last year, 1.1 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
Open only about 16 hours a week
Steele Public Library keeps short hours: about 16 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
A small-town library
Steele Public Library serves 1,853 residents with about one full-time staff. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 7% of the people Steele Public Library serves have a library card, against a typical 54% 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Steele’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Steele is ahead of 3% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Steele’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Steele Public Library spends $10 per resident, against a typical $54 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($41K–$68K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
3 community nonprofits are registered in Steele
2.0 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 (9 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
4.0%
4.0% of Steele’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 Steele’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Steele Public Library serves 1,853 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 2 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
1,400 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 7,912 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.1 time last year, on average.
381 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
2 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Steele last year.
Find it
Steele Public Library, 108 E Main St., Steele.
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 $1.25 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Steele cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $18K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $23K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $18K budget.
Fine-free. No late fees on books returned late.
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 131 cardholders ÷ 12.
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 Steele
Does Steele have a public library?
Yes. Steele Public Library, 108 E Main St., serves Steele’s 1,853 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 16 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Steele Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Steele’s library?
It logged 0.8 visits and lent 0.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Steele’s civic life grade?
D− Steele is ahead of 3% 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 Steele.
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.