Photo: Wineinger at English Wikipedia · Public domainSparta’s library logs 5.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Sparta Free Library serves Sparta’s 20,738 residents. Last year it lent 80K print books and media and logged 109K visits.
The short version on Sparta’s library
The library is a National Register landmark
Sparta Free Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1981. Today’s library there has 11,468 square feet. The building ↓
A place to get online
Sparta Free Library logs about 309 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 15 public computers. That’s 5.4 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
This summary is written from the numbers on this page. Numbers are the library’s own report to the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
What’s behind Sparta’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Sparta is ahead of 60% of U.S. towns, #189 of 358 in Wisconsin. Sparta is graded on two of the three inputs. Sparta’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
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 →
80 community nonprofits are registered in Sparta
8.0 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 (14 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 3 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.6%
5.6% of Sparta’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 Sparta’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 30 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Sparta Free Library serves 20,738 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
80K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 38K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.1 times last year, on average.
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
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Sparta last year.
A National Register landmark since 1981
Sparta Free Library, 124 W. Main St., Sparta.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Sparta? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Sparta Free Library
Sparta Free Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Sep 3, 1981. It is significant for its architecture at the local level. Its architecture is described as Neo-Classical.
The Sparta Free Library is located in Sparta, Wisconsin. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.
More about the building →For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.76 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Sparta cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $582K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $582K 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 6,172 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sparta | Sparta Free Library | 3.9 | 51 | B |
| Angelo | None of its own | — | — | D− |
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.
- Digital loans not reported. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
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 Sparta
Does Sparta have a public library?
Yes. Sparta Free Library, 124 W. Main St., serves Sparta’s 20,738 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 51 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Sparta Free 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 Sparta’s library?
It logged 5.3 visits and lent 3.9 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Sparta’s civic life grade?
B Sparta is ahead of 60% of U.S. towns on civic life, #189 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 Sparta.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.