Photo: formulanone from Huntsville, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0Blue Rapids’ library logs 5.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Blue Rapids Public Library serves Blue Rapids’s 924 residents. Last year it lent 4,608 books, movies and e-books and logged 4,875 visits.
What Blue Rapids’s library is like
More library cards than residents
942 cards for 924 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
The library is a National Register landmark
Blue Rapids Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1972. Today’s library there has 1,400 square feet. The building ↓
A small-town library
Blue Rapids Public Library serves 924 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 24 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 ↓
A place to get online
Blue Rapids Public Library logs about 11 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 4 public computers. That’s 4.3 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Blue Rapids’ civic life grade
Blue Rapids 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 →
A National Register landmark since 1972
Blue Rapids Public Library, 14 Public Square, Blue Rapids.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Blue Rapids? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Blue Rapids Library
Blue Rapids Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Mar 17, 1972. It is significant for its religion and social history at the state level.
More about the building →Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Blue Rapids Public Library serves 924 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 4 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
4,608 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 8,374 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
1,059 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
47 programs a year
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 Blue Rapids last year.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $3.37 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Blue Rapids cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $28K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $94K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $28K 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 942 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. Blue Rapids 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 Blue Rapids
Does Blue Rapids have a public library?
Yes. Blue Rapids Public Library, 14 Public Square, serves Blue Rapids’ 924 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 24 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Blue Rapids 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 Blue Rapids’ library?
It logged 5.3 visits and lent 5.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Blue Rapids’ civic life grade?
Blue Rapids 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 Blue Rapids.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.