The Villages Public Library at Belvedere
The Villages’s library is the The Villages Public Library at Belvedere, a branch of Sumter County Library System, which serves 148,967 people and lent 340K items last year.
What stands out about The Villages Public Library at Belvedere
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
Find it
The Villages Public Library at Belvedere, 325 Belvedere Boulevard, The Villages.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Every hour the doors are open, about 26 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Sumter County Library System system. The library’s own count.
Close to typical for its size
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S. A tiny town’s library always looks busier per person, so it’s only compared with its own size.
Sumter County Library System serves 148,967 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
340K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
About 2 kids’ programs a week
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.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.76 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average The Villages cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $3.4M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3.4M 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 57,835 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Villages | The Villages Public Library at Belvedere | — | 51 |
| Wildwood | The Villages Public Library at Pinellas Plaza | — | 55 |
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.
About these numbers
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Hours are an average. The survey reports a building’s public hours for the whole year. We divide by the weeks it was open, so check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
- Compared by size. “Similar-size” means libraries serving about as many people, nationwide. Per-resident numbers always flatter the smallest towns, so they’re never compared with big cities.
- 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.
- System-wide. The Villages Public Library at Belvedere is one branch of Sumter County Library System, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 148,967 people it serves.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in The Villages.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
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.