Photo: Midnightcomm · CC BY-SA 2.5Slinger’s library lends 6.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Slinger Community Library serves Slinger’s 14,000 residents. Last year it lent 113K books, movies and e-books and logged 34K visits.
What stands out about Slinger’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Slinger’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Slinger is ahead of 85% of U.S. towns, #62 of 358 in Wisconsin. Slinger is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Slinger’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 →
35 community nonprofits are registered in Slinger
5.6 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (5 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.3%
9.3% of Slinger’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 Slinger’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Slinger Community Library serves 14,000 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 43 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
113K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 33K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.8 times last year, on average.
20,047 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 4 kids’ programs a week
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.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Slinger last year.
Find it
Slinger Community Library, 220 Slinger Rd., Slinger.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Slinger? 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 $4.93 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Slinger cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $349K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.7M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $349K 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 3,841 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.
- 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 Slinger
Does Slinger have a public library?
Yes. Slinger Community Library, 220 Slinger Rd., serves Slinger’s 14,000 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 51 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Slinger 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 Slinger’s library?
It logged 2.4 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 Slinger’s civic life grade?
A Slinger is ahead of 85% of U.S. towns on civic life, #62 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 Slinger.
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.