Albert Lea’s library logs 3.2 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Albert Lea Public Library serves 30,513 people in and around Albert Lea. Last year it lent 137K books, movies and e-books and logged 96K visits.
What stands out about Albert Lea Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Albert Lea’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Albert Lea is ahead of 27% of U.S. towns, #211 of 271 in Minnesota. Albert Lea is graded on two of the three inputs. Albert Lea’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($48K–$81K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
83 community nonprofits are registered in Albert Lea
4.5 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 (26 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
4.0%
4.0% of Albert Lea’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.4% in the typical Minnesota 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 Albert Lea’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Albert Lea Public Library serves 30,513 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 60 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Albert Lea Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
137K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
14,737 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 4 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.
Find it
Albert Lea Public Library, 211 E Clark St., Albert Lea.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Albert Lea Public Library branch.
New in Albert Lea? 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 $1.87 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Albert Lea cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.1M 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 10,126 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 | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albert Lea | Albert Lea Public Library fine-free | — | 44 | C |
| Albert Lea Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Bancroft Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Pickerel Lake Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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.
- System-wide. Albert Lea Public Library serves 30,513 people in and around Albert Lea, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Albert Lea.
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 Albert Lea
Does Albert Lea have a public library?
Yes. Albert Lea Public Library, 211 E Clark St., serves 30,513 people in and around Albert Lea (the survey’s count) and is open about 44 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Albert Lea 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 Albert Lea’s library?
It logged 3.2 visits and lent 4.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Albert Lea’s civic life grade?
C Albert Lea is ahead of 27% of U.S. towns on civic life, #211 of 271 in Minnesota. 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 Albert Lea.
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.