Photo: Corey Coyle · CC BY 3.0Fitchburg’s library lends 8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Fitchburg Public Library serves Fitchburg’s 36,542 residents. Last year it lent 368K books, movies and e-books and logged 156K visits.
What Fitchburg’s library is like
Kids borrow more here than almost anywhere
Children’s books and media are 53% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 86% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 29 items per child in Fitchburg last year. Kids & programs ↓
A place to get online
Fitchburg Public Library logs about 968 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 32 public computers. That’s 9.7 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
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 Fitchburg’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Fitchburg is ahead of 40% of U.S. towns, #257 of 358 in Wisconsin. Library visits hold the grade up; Fitchburg’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($65K–$108K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
44 community nonprofits are registered in Fitchburg
1.3 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 3 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
8.4%
8.4% of Fitchburg’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 Fitchburg’s residents live; 2022.
About 6 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 Fitchburg last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Fitchburg Public Library serves 36,542 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 112 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
368K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 110K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.7 times last year, on average.
75,187 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Fitchburg Public Library, 5530 Lacy Rd., Fitchburg.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Fitchburg? 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 $2.66 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Fitchburg cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.4M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6.5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.4M 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 16,877 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.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Madison | Madison Public Library fine-free | 10.3 | 68 | A− |
| Fitchburg | Fitchburg Public Library fine-free | 10.1 | 63 | C+ |
| Dunn | None of its own | — | — | C |
| Verona | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| Blooming Grove | None of its own | — | — | C |
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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Fitchburg Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Fitchburg
Does Fitchburg have a public library?
Yes. Fitchburg Public Library, 5530 Lacy Rd., serves Fitchburg’s 36,542 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 63 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Fitchburg 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 Fitchburg’s library?
It logged 4.3 visits and lent 10.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Fitchburg’s civic life grade?
C+ Fitchburg is ahead of 40% of U.S. towns on civic life, #257 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 Fitchburg.
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.