Sutherland’s library lends 4.8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Maxine White Sutherland Public Library serves Sutherland’s 1,233 residents. Last year it lent 8,080 books, movies and e-books and logged 3,699 visits.
What Sutherland’s library is like
Programs are almost all for children
100% of the 90 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 1.2 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
A small-town library
Maxine White Sutherland Public Library serves 1,233 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 ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 74% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 81% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Open only about 21 hours a week
Maxine White Sutherland Public Library keeps short hours: about 21 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 20% of the people Maxine White Sutherland 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 Sutherland’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Sutherland is ahead of 89% of U.S. towns. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull 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 →
12 community nonprofits are registered in Sutherland
9.9 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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
17.2%
17.2% of Sutherland’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.9% in the typical Nebraska 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 Sutherland’s residents live; 2022.
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 Sutherland last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Maxine White Sutherland Public Library serves 1,233 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 8 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
8,080 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 11K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.6 time last year, on average.
2,131 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Maxine White Sutherland Public Library, 900 2nd Street, Sutherland.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Sutherland? 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 $2.24 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Sutherland cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $54K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $121K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $54K 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 243 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 Sutherland
Does Sutherland have a public library?
Yes. Maxine White Sutherland Public Library, 900 2nd Street, serves Sutherland’s 1,233 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 21 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Maxine White Sutherland 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 Sutherland’s library?
It logged 3.0 visits and lent 6.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Sutherland’s civic life grade?
A Sutherland is ahead of 89% 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 Sutherland.
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.