Holt and Balcom Logging Camp No.1 · Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 3.0Lakewood’s library lends 11 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Lakes Country Public Library serves 3,058 people in and around Lakewood. Last year it lent 41K books, movies and e-books and logged 15K visits.
What stands out about Lakes Country Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Lakewood’s civic life grade
Lakewood isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
Mostly books and media off the shelf
41K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
7,075 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Lakes Country Public Library serves 3,058 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 16 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Lakes Country Public Library system. The library’s own count.
65 programs a year
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
Lakes Country Public Library, 15235 Hwy. 32, Lakewood.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Lakes Country Public Library branch.
New in Lakewood? 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 $3.71 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Lakewood cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $177K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $656K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $177K 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 1,997 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wabeno | Wabeno Public Library fine-free | 1.8 | 24 | A |
| Lakewood | Lakes Country Public Library | — | 48 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Silver Cliff | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Stephenson | None of its own | — | — | A |
| Riverview | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Townsend | None of its own | — | — | — too few inputs |
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. Lakes Country Public Library serves 3,058 people in and around Lakewood, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Lakewood.
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 Lakewood
Does Lakewood have a public library?
Yes. Lakes Country Public Library, 15235 Hwy. 32, serves 3,058 people in and around Lakewood (the survey’s count) and is open about 48 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lakes Country 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 Lakewood’s library?
It logged 4.8 visits and lent 13.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Lakewood’s civic life grade?
Lakewood isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Lakewood.
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.