Photo: Radon360 · CC BY-SA 4.0Random Lake’s library lends 7.1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Lakeview Community Library serves 5,844 people in and around Random Lake. Last year it lent 53K books, movies and e-books and logged 26K visits.
What stands out about Lakeview Community Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Random Lake’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Random Lake is ahead of 87% of U.S. towns. Random Lake is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Random Lake’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 →
9 community nonprofits are registered in Random Lake
5.9 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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.5%
9.5% of Random Lake’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 Random Lake’s residents live; 2022.
About 4 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Lakeview Community Library serves 5,844 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 22 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Lakeview Community Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
53K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
11,115 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Lakeview Community Library, 112 Butler St., Random Lake.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Lakeview Community Library branch.
New in Random Lake? 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 $3.42 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Random Lake cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $245K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $839K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $245K 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 3,168 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Random Lake | Lakeview Community Library | — | 46 | A |
| Sherman | None of its own | — | — | A |
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. Lakeview Community Library serves 5,844 people in and around Random Lake, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Random Lake.
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 Random Lake
Does Random Lake have a public library?
Yes. Lakeview Community Library, 112 Butler St., serves 5,844 people in and around Random Lake (the survey’s count) and is open about 46 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lakeview Community 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 Random Lake’s library?
It logged 4.5 visits and lent 9.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Random Lake’s civic life grade?
A Random Lake is ahead of 87% 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 Random Lake.
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.