Photo: Myotus · CC BY 4.0Alexandria’s library lends 7.4 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Douglas County Library serves 39,953 people in and around Alexandria. Last year it lent 333K books, movies and e-books and logged 136K visits.
What stands out about Douglas County Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Alexandria’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Alexandria is ahead of 67% of U.S. towns, #81 of 271 in Minnesota. Alexandria is graded on two of the three inputs. Alexandria’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
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 →
180 community nonprofits are registered in Alexandria
12.2 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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. 4 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.8%
5.8% of Alexandria’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 Alexandria’s residents live; 2022.
About 3 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.
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.
Douglas County Library serves 39,953 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 127 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Douglas County Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
333K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
37,973 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
A National Register landmark since 1985
Douglas County Library, 720 Fillmore Street, Alexandria.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Douglas County Library branch.
New in Alexandria? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Alexandria Public Library
Alexandria Public Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Aug 23, 1985. It is significant for its education and architecture at the local level. Its architecture is described as Beaux Arts.
More about the building →For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $3.71 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Alexandria cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.3M 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 15,411 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alexandria | Douglas County Library | — | 50 | B+ |
| Alexandria Township | None of its own | — | — | D |
| La Grand Township | None of its own | — | — | D |
| Lake Mary Township | None of its own | — | — | D |
| Carlos Township | None of its own | — | — | D |
| Hudson Township | None of its own | — | — | — graded with its twin city |
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. Douglas County Library serves 39,953 people in and around Alexandria, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Alexandria.
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 Alexandria
Does Alexandria have a public library?
Yes. Douglas County Library, 720 Fillmore Street, serves 39,953 people in and around Alexandria (the survey’s count) and is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Douglas County 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 Alexandria’s library?
It logged 3.4 visits and lent 8.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Alexandria’s civic life grade?
B+ Alexandria is ahead of 67% of U.S. towns on civic life, #81 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 Alexandria.
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.