Fuhremann Canning Company Factory · Photo: Corey Coyle · CC BY 3.0Sun Prairie’s library lends 10 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Sun Prairie Public Library serves Sun Prairie’s 53,551 residents. Last year it lent 676K books, movies and e-books and logged 222K visits.
What Sun Prairie’s library is like
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 58% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 93% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 32 items per child in Sun Prairie last year. Kids & programs ↓
Sun Prairie is a town of borrowers
Sun Prairie Public Library lends 10 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, more than 90% of similar-size libraries. Each item on the shelves went out about 3.8 times last year. What people borrow ↓
Open about 66 hours a week
Sun Prairie Public Library is open about 66 hours a week, averaged over the year. Every hour the doors are open, about 196 items go out. The building ↓
A place to get online
Sun Prairie Public Library logs about 1,112 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 32 public computers. That’s 7.6 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 Sun Prairie’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Sun Prairie is ahead of 58% of U.S. towns, #192 of 358 in Wisconsin. Sun Prairie is graded on two of the three inputs. Sun Prairie’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 →
167 community nonprofits are registered in Sun Prairie
4.5 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 (39 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.
7.5%
7.5% of Sun Prairie’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 Sun Prairie’s residents live; 2022.
About 11 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 Sun Prairie last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Sun Prairie Public Library serves 53,551 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 196 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
676K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 142K books and other items on the shelves went out about 3.8 times last year, on average.
140,572 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Sun Prairie Public Library, 1350 Linnerud Dr., Sun Prairie.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Sun Prairie? 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 $4.01 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Sun Prairie cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.8M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $11M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.8M 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 26,607 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 Sun Prairie
Does Sun Prairie have a public library?
Yes. Sun Prairie Public Library, 1350 Linnerud Dr., serves Sun Prairie’s 53,551 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 66 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Sun Prairie 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 Sun Prairie’s library?
It logged 4.1 visits and lent 12.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Sun Prairie’s civic life grade?
B Sun Prairie is ahead of 58% of U.S. towns on civic life, #192 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 Sun Prairie.
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.