Church of the Good Shepherd-Episcopal · Photo: Elkman · CC BY-SA 3.0Blue Earth’s library runs 42 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Blue Earth Community Library serves 6,042 people in and around Blue Earth. Last year it lent 30K books, movies and e-books and logged 21K visits.
What stands out about Blue Earth Community Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Blue Earth’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Blue Earth is ahead of 73% of U.S. towns, #65 of 271 in Minnesota. Blue Earth is graded on two of the three inputs. Blue Earth’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 →
35 community nonprofits are registered in Blue Earth
11.1 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (9 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.5%
6.5% of Blue Earth’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 Blue Earth’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Blue Earth Community Library serves 6,042 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 12 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Blue Earth Community Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
30K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
4,611 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
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.
Find it
Blue Earth Community Library, 124 West 7th Street, Blue Earth.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Blue Earth Community Library branch.
New in Blue Earth? 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 $2.15 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Blue Earth cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $249K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $536K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $249K 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 1,564 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Earth | Blue Earth Community Library fine-free | — | 49 | B+ |
| Blue Earth City Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Jo Daviess 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. Blue Earth Community Library serves 6,042 people in and around Blue Earth, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Blue Earth.
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 Earth
Does Blue Earth have a public library?
Yes. Blue Earth Community Library, 124 West 7th Street, serves 6,042 people in and around Blue Earth (the survey’s count) and is open about 49 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Blue Earth Community 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 Earth’s library?
It logged 3.5 visits and lent 5.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Blue Earth’s civic life grade?
B+ Blue Earth is ahead of 73% of U.S. towns on civic life, #65 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 Blue Earth.
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.