Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Baudette’s library logs 7.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Baudette Public Library serves Baudette’s 947 residents. Last year it lent 11K books, movies and e-books and logged 7,449 visits.
What Baudette’s library is like
A small-town library
Baudette Public Library serves 947 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 42 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 ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3.1 e-items per resident, against a typical 1, higher than at 87% of similar-size libraries. It’s 27% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
Baudette invests in its library
Baudette Public Library spends $127 per resident a year, about twice the typical $54 for a library its size. Almost all of it (94%) comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
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 Baudette’s civic life grade
Baudette 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 →
Mostly books and media off the shelf
11K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 13K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.6 time last year, on average.
2,903 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Baudette Public Library serves 947 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 5 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
34 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 Baudette last year.
Find it
Baudette Public Library, 110 1st Avenue SW, Baudette.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Baudette? 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 $1.38 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Baudette cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $121K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $166K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $121K 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 454 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Baudette
Does Baudette have a public library?
Yes. Baudette Public Library, 110 1st Avenue SW, serves Baudette’s 947 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 42 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Baudette 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 Baudette’s library?
It logged 7.9 visits and lent 11.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Baudette’s civic life grade?
Baudette 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 Baudette.
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.