Photo: I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby publish it under the following license: · CC BY-SA 3.0Eagle’s library lends 6.1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Alice Baker Memorial Public Library serves 6,127 people in and around Eagle. Last year it lent 50K books, movies and e-books and logged 22K visits.
What’s behind Eagle’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Eagle is ahead of 51% of U.S. towns. Eagle is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Eagle’s count of community nonprofits pulls 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 →
8 community nonprofits are registered in Eagle
3.7 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 (0 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.8%
7.8% of Eagle’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 Eagle’s residents live; 2022.
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.
Alice Baker Memorial Public Library serves 6,127 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 20 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Alice Baker Memorial Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
50K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
13,094 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 kids’ programs a week
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
Alice Baker Memorial Public Library, 820 E. Main St., Eagle.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Alice Baker Memorial Public Library branch.
New in Eagle? 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 $2.44 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Eagle cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $322K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $784K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $322K 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 3,397 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Alice Baker Memorial Public Library serves 6,127 people in and around Eagle, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Eagle.
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 Eagle
Does Eagle have a public library?
Yes. Alice Baker Memorial Public Library, 820 E. Main St., serves 6,127 people in and around Eagle (the survey’s count) and is open about 48 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Alice Baker Memorial 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 Eagle’s library?
It logged 3.6 visits and lent 8.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Eagle’s civic life grade?
B− Eagle is ahead of 51% 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 Eagle.
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.