Photo: Skvader · CC BY-SA 4.0Ramsey’s library logs 0.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Ramsey Public Library serves Ramsey’s 911 residents. Last year it lent 825 books, movies and e-books and logged 372 visits.
What Ramsey’s library is like
Ramsey Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Ramsey Public Library records 0.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Borrowing is 0.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $22 per resident, against a typical $54. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Ramsey Public Library offered 1 programs last year, 1.1 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
A small-town library
Ramsey Public Library serves 911 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 23 hours a week. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 13% of the people Ramsey Public Library serves have a library card, against a typical 54% for its size. How it compares ↓
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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Ramsey’s civic life grade
Ramsey 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 under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Ramsey Public Library serves 911 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
A year at Ramsey Public Library
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
825 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 4,053 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.1 time last year, on average.
283 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
1 programs a year
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 Ramsey last year.
Find it
Ramsey Public Library, 401 South Superior Street, Ramsey.
Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Ramsey cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $20K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $15K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $20K 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 115 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Ramsey Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Ramsey
Does Ramsey have a public library?
Yes. Ramsey Public Library, 401 South Superior Street, serves Ramsey’s 911 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 23 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Ramsey 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 Ramsey’s library?
It logged 0.4 visits and lent 0.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Ramsey’s civic life grade?
Ramsey 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 Ramsey.
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.