Photo: User:Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0Iron River’s library logs 6.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Evelyn Goldberg Briggs Memorial Library serves 5,247 people in and around Iron River. Last year it lent 45K books, movies and e-books and logged 34K visits.
What Iron River’s library is like
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
33% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 67%. What your card is worth ↓
Evelyn Goldberg Briggs Memorial Library serves more than Iron River
The library’s service area covers 5,247 people in and around Iron River, so its per-resident numbers are measured against that wider population. How it compares ↓
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 Iron River’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Iron River is ahead of 64% of U.S. towns. Iron River is graded on two of the three inputs. Iron River’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups 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 →
12 community nonprofits are registered in Iron River
8.9 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.9%
5.9% of Iron River’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 Iron River’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 20 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Evelyn Goldberg Briggs Memorial Library serves 5,247 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
45K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 20K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.6 times last year, on average.
12,510 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
69 programs a year
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.
Find it
Evelyn Goldberg Briggs Memorial Library, 68235 S. Main St., Iron River.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Iron River? 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 $4.17 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Iron River cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $171K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $712K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $171K 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 1,790 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iron River | Evelyn Goldberg Briggs Memorial Library fine-free | 8.6 | 44 | B |
| Hughes | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Tripp | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Delta | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Keystone | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Pilsen | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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 Iron River
Does Iron River have a public library?
Yes. Evelyn Goldberg Briggs Memorial Library, 68235 S. Main St., serves 5,247 people in and around Iron River (the survey’s count) and is open about 44 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Evelyn Goldberg Briggs Memorial 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 Iron River’s library?
It logged 6.4 visits and lent 8.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Iron River’s civic life grade?
B Iron River is ahead of 64% 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 Iron River.
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.