Suring’s library logs 1.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Suring Area Public Library serves 5,212 people in and around Suring. Last year it lent 20K books, movies and e-books and logged 7,328 visits.
What’s behind Suring’s civic life grade
Suring isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Suring Area Public Library serves 5,212 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 10 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Suring Area Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
20K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
2,146 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
151 programs a year
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
Suring Area Public Library, 604 E. Main St., Suring.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Suring Area Public Library branch.
New in Suring? 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 $1.98 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Suring cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $167K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $332K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $167K 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 992 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suring | Suring Area Public Library | — | 40 | — under 1,000 residents |
| How | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Maple Valley | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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. Suring Area Public Library serves 5,212 people in and around Suring, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Suring.
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 Suring
Does Suring have a public library?
Yes. Suring Area Public Library, 604 E. Main St., serves 5,212 people in and around Suring (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Suring Area Public 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 Suring’s library?
It logged 1.4 visits and lent 3.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Suring’s civic life grade?
Suring isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Suring.
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.