A. D. German Wholesale Company and Warehouse, Additional Documentation · Photo: Lowell Boileau · CC BY-SA 3.0Richland Center’s library runs 11 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Brewer Public Library serves 15,158 people in and around Richland Center. Last year it lent 69K books, movies and e-books and logged 43K visits.
What stands out about Brewer Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Richland Center’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Richland Center is ahead of 87% of U.S. towns, #46 of 358 in Wisconsin. Richland Center is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Richland Center’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 →
40 community nonprofits are registered in Richland Center
7.8 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 (6 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
8.6%
8.6% of Richland Center’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 Richland Center’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Brewer Public Library serves 15,158 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 28 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Brewer Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
69K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
19,503 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 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.
Find it
Brewer Public Library, 325 N. Central Ave., Richland Center.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Brewer Public Library branch.
New in Richland Center? 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 $2.51 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Richland Center cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $434K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $434K 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 5,525 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richland Center | Brewer Public Library fine-free | — | 48 | A |
| Richland | 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. Brewer Public Library serves 15,158 people in and around Richland Center, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Richland Center.
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 Richland Center
Does Richland Center have a public library?
Yes. Brewer Public Library, 325 N. Central Ave., serves 15,158 people in and around Richland Center (the survey’s count) and is open about 48 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Brewer 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 Richland Center’s library?
It logged 2.9 visits and lent 4.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Richland Center’s civic life grade?
A Richland Center is ahead of 87% of U.S. towns on civic life, #46 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 Richland Center.
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.