Photo: Sword Fern · CC BY-SA 3.0Sweet Home’s library lends 6.5 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Sweet Home Public Library serves Sweet Home’s 10,028 residents. Last year it lent 66K print books and media and logged 34K visits.
What stands out about Sweet Home’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Sweet Home’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Sweet Home is ahead of 77% of U.S. towns, #53 of 106 in Oregon. 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 →
45 community nonprofits are registered in Sweet Home
4.5 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 (18 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
12.2%
12.2% of Sweet Home’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.9% in the typical Oregon 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 Sweet Home’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Sweet Home Public Library serves 10,028 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 37 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
66K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 28K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.3 times last year, on average.
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 Sweet Home last year.
Find it
Sweet Home Public Library, 1101 13th Ave, Sweet Home.
No late fees. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Sweet Home? 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 $1.46 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Sweet Home cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $699K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $699K 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 3,097 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Digital loans not reported. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
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 Sweet Home
Does Sweet Home have a public library?
Yes. Sweet Home Public Library, 1101 13th Ave, serves Sweet Home’s 10,028 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 34 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Sweet Home Public Library fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Sweet Home’s library?
It logged 3.4 visits and lent 6.5 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Sweet Home’s civic life grade?
A− Sweet Home is ahead of 77% of U.S. towns on civic life, #53 of 106 in Oregon. 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 Sweet Home.
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.