Photo: Myotus · CC BY-SA 4.0Crosby’s library logs 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Crosby: Jessie F. Hallett Memorial Library serves 18,636 people in and around Crosby. Last year it lent 33K books, movies and e-books and logged 16K visits.
The short version on Crosby’s library
Crosby: Jessie F. Hallett Memorial Library is used less than most libraries its size
Crosby: Jessie F. Hallett Memorial Library records 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people. Borrowing is 1.5 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $11 per resident, against a typical $43. How it compares ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
45% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 55%. What your card is worth ↓
Runs on less money than most
Crosby: Jessie F. Hallett Memorial Library spends $11 per resident, less than 94% of similar-size libraries (typical: $43). 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; Crosby: Jessie F. Hallett Memorial Library serves 18,636 people in and around Crosby, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Crosby’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Crosby is ahead of 64% of U.S. towns. Crosby is graded on two of the three inputs. Crosby’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 →
18 community nonprofits are registered in Crosby
8.1 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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.0%
6.0% of Crosby’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 Crosby’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Crosby: Jessie F. Hallett Memorial Library serves 18,636 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 16 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Crosby: Jessie F. Hallett Memorial Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
33K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
5,566 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 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
Crosby: Jessie F. Hallett Memorial Library, 101 1st Street SE, Crosby.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Crosby: Jessie F. Hallett Memorial Library branch.
New in Crosby? 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 $2.25 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Crosby cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $209K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $472K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $209K 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 7,008 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crosby | Crosby: Jessie F. Hallett Memorial Library fine-free | — | 39 | B |
| Irondale Township | None of its own | — | — | B |
| Ironton | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Cuyuna | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Wolford 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. Crosby: Jessie F. Hallett Memorial Library serves 18,636 people in and around Crosby, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Crosby.
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 Crosby
Does Crosby have a public library?
Yes. Crosby: Jessie F. Hallett Memorial Library, 101 1st Street SE, serves 18,636 people in and around Crosby (the survey’s count) and is open about 39 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Crosby: Jessie F. Hallett Memorial 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 Crosby’s library?
It logged 0.8 visits and lent 1.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Crosby’s civic life grade?
B Crosby is ahead of 64% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Crosby.
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.