Photo: self · CC BY-SA 2.5Waterloo’s library lends 12 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Karl Junginger Memorial Library serves Waterloo’s 4,532 residents. Last year it lent 62K books, movies and e-books and logged 25K visits.
What Waterloo’s library is like
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 57% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 96% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 39 items per child in Waterloo last year. Kids & programs ↓
Waterloo is a town of borrowers
Karl Junginger Memorial Library lends 12 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, more than 94% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
27% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 72%. What your card is worth ↓
Programs lean toward adults
53% of the 404 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 143 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
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 Waterloo’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Waterloo is ahead of 62% of U.S. towns, #174 of 358 in Wisconsin. Waterloo is graded on two of the three inputs. Waterloo’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 →
30 community nonprofits are registered in Waterloo
8.3 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.8%
5.8% of Waterloo’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 Waterloo’s residents live; 2022.
About 3 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 Waterloo last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Karl Junginger Memorial Library serves 4,532 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 25 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
62K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 27K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.9 times last year, on average.
9,866 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Karl Junginger Memorial Library, 625 N. Monroe St., Waterloo.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Waterloo? 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 Waterloo cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $378K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $951K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $378K 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 2,298 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 Waterloo
Does Waterloo have a public library?
Yes. Karl Junginger Memorial Library, 625 N. Monroe St., serves Waterloo’s 4,532 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 48 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Karl Junginger Memorial 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 Waterloo’s library?
It logged 5.6 visits and lent 13.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Waterloo’s civic life grade?
B Waterloo is ahead of 62% of U.S. towns on civic life, #174 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 Waterloo.
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.