Photo: Heritage Preservation Department - MNHS · CC BY 4.0Browns Valley’s library logs 18 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Browns Valley Public Library serves Browns Valley’s 682 residents. Last year it lent 14K books, movies and e-books and logged 12K visits.
Browns Valley’s library, in brief
More library cards than residents
934 cards for 682 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 ↓
Browns Valley uses its library more than almost any town its size
Browns Valley Public Library logs 18 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people, and lends 18 print items per resident against a typical 3.9. On both counts it beats 96% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
A small-town library
Browns Valley Public Library serves 682 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 30 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 ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Browns Valley Public Library holds 27,000 books and other items, but the average item went out less than once last year. What people borrow ↓
Browns Valley invests in its library
Browns Valley Public Library spends $127 per resident a year, about twice the typical $54 for a library its size. Almost all of it (86%) 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 Browns Valley’s civic life grade
Browns Valley 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 9 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Browns Valley Public Library serves 682 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
14K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 27K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.5 time last year, on average.
1,375 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
64 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
Find it
Browns Valley Public Library, 15 3rd Street S, Browns Valley.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Browns Valley? 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 $2.71 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Browns Valley cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $87K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $235K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $87K 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 934 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Browns Valley | Browns Valley Public Library | 20.1 | 30 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Folsom Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Browns Valley Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Becker 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.
- Visits count everyone. Browns Valley’s 12,220 visits include people from nearby towns and summer visitors; the survey has no resident share.
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 Browns Valley
Does Browns Valley have a public library?
Yes. Browns Valley Public Library, 15 3rd Street S, serves Browns Valley’s 682 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 30 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Browns Valley 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 Browns Valley’s library?
It logged 17.9 visits and lent 20.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Browns Valley’s civic life grade?
Browns Valley 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 Browns Valley.
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.