Photo: Bobjgalindo · CC BY-SA 4.0East Grand Forks’ library logs 5.1 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
East Grand Forks Campbell Library serves East Grand Forks’s 9,177 residents. Last year it lent 40K books, movies and e-books and logged 47K visits.
What stands out about East Grand Forks’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind East Grand Forks’ civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, East Grand Forks is ahead of 38% of U.S. towns, #176 of 271 in Minnesota. Library visits hold the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($58K–$97K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
28 community nonprofits are registered in East Grand Forks
3.1 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (10 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.6%
5.6% of East Grand Forks’ 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 East Grand Forks’ residents live; 2022.
About 4 kids’ programs a week
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 East Grand Forks last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
East Grand Forks Campbell Library serves 9,177 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 15 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
40K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 36K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1 time last year, on average.
3,564 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
East Grand Forks Campbell Library, 422 4th Street Northwest, East Grand Forks.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in East Grand Forks? 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 $1.01 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average East Grand Forks cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $731K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $742K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $731K 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 7,394 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Grand Forks | East Grand Forks Campbell Library | 4.4 | 51 | C+ |
| Grand Forks | Grand Forks Public Library fine-free | — | 68 | C+ |
| Huntsville Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Grand Forks Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Sullivan Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Rhinehart 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 are a typical-week estimate. East Grand Forks Campbell Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 East Grand Forks
Does East Grand Forks have a public library?
Yes. East Grand Forks Campbell Library, 422 4th Street Northwest, serves East Grand Forks’ 9,177 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 51 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is East Grand Forks Campbell 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 East Grand Forks’ library?
It logged 5.1 visits and lent 4.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is East Grand Forks’ civic life grade?
C+ East Grand Forks is ahead of 38% of U.S. towns on civic life, #176 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 East Grand Forks.
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.