Photo: JERRYE AND ROY KLOTZ MD · CC BY-SA 3.0Onida’s library logs 1.6 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Sully Area Library serves 2,008 people in and around Onida. Last year it lent 9,322 books, movies and e-books and logged 3,186 visits.
What Onida’s library is like
Open only about 16 hours a week
The Onida branch keeps short hours: about 16 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 78% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 78% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Runs on less money than most
Sully Area Library spends $19 per resident, less than 92% of similar-size libraries (typical: $54). 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; Sully Area Library serves 2,008 people in and around Onida, and its numbers cover all of them; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Onida’s civic life grade
Onida isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Sully Area Library serves 2,008 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 12 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Sully Area Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
9,322 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
1,057 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
43 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
Find it
Sully Area Library, 500 8th Street, Onida.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Sully Area Library branch.
New in Onida? 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 $3.57 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Onida cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $38K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $134K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $38K 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 1,062 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Sully Area Library serves 2,008 people in and around Onida, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Onida.
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 Onida
Does Onida have a public library?
Yes. Sully Area Library, 500 8th Street, serves 2,008 people in and around Onida (the survey’s count) and is open about 16 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Sully Area Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Onida’s library?
It logged 1.6 visits and lent 4.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Onida’s civic life grade?
Onida isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Onida.
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.