Pretty Prairie’s library logs 13 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Pretty Prairie Public Library serves Pretty Prairie’s 653 residents. Last year it lent 3,939 books, movies and e-books and logged 8,300 visits.
Pretty Prairie’s library, in brief
More library cards than residents
796 cards for 653 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 ↓
Busy on a lean budget
Pretty Prairie Public Library spends $18 per resident, less than 93% of similar-size libraries (typical: $54). It’s still busier than 80% of them. What your card is worth ↓
A small-town library
Pretty Prairie Public Library serves 653 residents with about 2 full-time staff, open about 40 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 ↓
People come to Pretty Prairie Public Library a lot
Pretty Prairie Public Library logs 13 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people, more than 93% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing is above typical too, at 5.5 print items per resident. 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 Pretty Prairie’s civic life grade
Pretty Prairie 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 →
Every hour the doors are open, about 2 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Pretty Prairie Public Library serves 653 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
3,939 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 19K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.2 time last year, on average.
331 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
27 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 Pretty Prairie last year.
Find it
Pretty Prairie Public Library, 119 W. Main St., Pretty Prairie.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Pretty Prairie? 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 $5.74 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Pretty Prairie cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $11K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $66K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $11K 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 796 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. Pretty Prairie 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 Pretty Prairie
Does Pretty Prairie have a public library?
Yes. Pretty Prairie Public Library, 119 W. Main St., serves Pretty Prairie’s 653 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Pretty Prairie 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 Pretty Prairie’s library?
It logged 12.7 visits and lent 6.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Pretty Prairie’s civic life grade?
Pretty Prairie 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 Pretty Prairie.
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.