State Bank of Ladysmith · Photo: Jeff the quiet · CC0Ladysmith’s library logs 5.6 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Rusk County Community Library serves 11,751 people in and around Ladysmith. Last year it lent 95K books, movies and e-books and logged 66K visits.
What stands out about Rusk County Community Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Ladysmith’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Ladysmith is ahead of 97% of U.S. towns, #12 of 358 in Wisconsin. Ladysmith is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Ladysmith’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
45 community nonprofits are registered in Ladysmith
13.9 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 (8 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
10.1%
10.1% of Ladysmith’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 Ladysmith’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 42 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Rusk County Community Library system. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Rusk County Community Library serves 11,751 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
95K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
16,250 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 1 kids’ program 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
Rusk County Community Library, 418 Corbett Ave. W., Ladysmith.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Rusk County Community Library branch.
New in Ladysmith? 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 $3.17 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Ladysmith cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $464K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $464K 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 2,822 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.
- System-wide. Rusk County Community Library serves 11,751 people in and around Ladysmith, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Ladysmith.
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 Ladysmith
Does Ladysmith have a public library?
Yes. Rusk County Community Library, 418 Corbett Ave. W., serves 11,751 people in and around Ladysmith (the survey’s count) and is open about 43 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Rusk County Community 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 Ladysmith’s library?
It logged 5.6 visits and lent 8.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Ladysmith’s civic life grade?
A+ Ladysmith is ahead of 97% of U.S. towns on civic life, #12 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 Ladysmith.
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.