Photo: Corey Coyle · CC BY 3.0Belleville’s library lends 16 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Belleville Public Library serves Belleville’s 3,560 residents. Last year it lent 69K books, movies and e-books and logged 35K visits.
What Belleville’s library is like
Belleville uses its library more than almost any town its size
Belleville Public Library logs 9.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, and lends 16 print items per resident against a typical 3.8. On both counts it beats 93% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 61% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 99% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 53 items per child in Belleville last year. Kids & programs ↓
Three times the programs of a typical library its size
Belleville Public Library ran 368 programs last year, about 7 a week. That’s 103 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34. People show up: 7,081 attended. Kids & programs ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3.7 e-items per resident, against a typical 1, higher than at 93% of similar-size libraries. It’s 19% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
The library is a National Register landmark
Library Park has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1981. Today’s library there has 13,805 square feet. The building ↓
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.
What’s behind Belleville’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Belleville is ahead of 84% of U.S. towns, #71 of 358 in Wisconsin. Belleville is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups ranks highest.
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 Belleville
5.1 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.
9.7%
9.7% of Belleville’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.6% in the typical Wisconsin 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 Belleville’s residents live; 2022.
About 3 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 Belleville last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Belleville Public Library serves 3,560 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 26 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
69K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 29K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2 times last year, on average.
13,091 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
A National Register landmark since 1981
Belleville Public Library, 20 S. Park St., Belleville.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Belleville? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Library Park
Library Park was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Jan 26, 1981. It is significant for its town planning at the local level. Its architecture is described as Queen Anne.
Library Park is the village green in Belleville, Wisconsin, platted in 1851, to which the two-story cream brick village hall was added in 1894. The park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981 and on the State Register of Historic Places in 1989.
More about the building →For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $3.27 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Belleville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $409K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $409K 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 2,849 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
Loans = print + digital items borrowed in the library’s fiscal year, per person it serves. — = no library of its own, a county or regional system (its numbers cover many towns), or no report. Civic life: — = not graded (unincorporated places, whose nonprofits can’t be placed by mailing address, or towns with fewer than two of the three inputs).
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 Belleville
Does Belleville have a public library?
Yes. Belleville Public Library, 20 S. Park St., serves Belleville’s 3,560 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 51 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Belleville Public 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 Belleville’s library?
It logged 9.9 visits and lent 19.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Belleville’s civic life grade?
A− Belleville is ahead of 84% of U.S. towns on civic life, #71 of 358 in Wisconsin. 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 Belleville.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.