Photo: Bmzuckerman · CC BY 4.0Owatonna’s library runs 3.7 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Owatonna Public Library serves 37,422 people in and around Owatonna. Last year it lent 199K books, movies and e-books and logged 98K visits.
The short version on Owatonna’s library
The branch is a National Register landmark
Owatonna Free Public Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976. Today’s library there has 25,500 square feet. The building ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
34% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 66%. 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; Owatonna Public Library serves 37,422 people in and around Owatonna, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Owatonna’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Owatonna is ahead of 62% of U.S. towns, #96 of 271 in Minnesota. Owatonna is graded on two of the three inputs. Owatonna’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 →
175 community nonprofits are registered in Owatonna
6.6 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 (35 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 7 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.3%
6.3% of Owatonna’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 Owatonna’s residents live; 2022.
A National Register landmark since 1976
Owatonna Public Library, 105 N Elm Avenue, Owatonna.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Owatonna Public Library branch.
New in Owatonna? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Owatonna Free Public Library
Owatonna Free Public Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Jun 7, 1976. It is significant for its education and architecture at the state level. Its architecture is described as Neo-Classic.
The Owatonna Public Library is a public library in Owatonna, Minnesota, United States. It was established in 1896 and is housed in a building completed in 1900. It is a member of Southeastern Libraries Cooperating (SELCO), the regional public library system for Southeast Minnesota.
More about the building →Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Owatonna Public Library serves 37,422 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 43 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Owatonna Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
199K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
27,889 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
140 programs a year
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.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.35 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Owatonna cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.3M 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 19,661 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Owatonna | Owatonna Public Library fine-free | — | 48 | B |
| Owatonna Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Clinton Falls 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. Owatonna Public Library serves 37,422 people in and around Owatonna, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Owatonna.
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 Owatonna
Does Owatonna have a public library?
Yes. Owatonna Public Library, 105 N Elm Avenue, serves 37,422 people in and around Owatonna (the survey’s count) and is open about 48 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Owatonna 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 Owatonna’s library?
It logged 2.6 visits and lent 5.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Owatonna’s civic life grade?
B Owatonna is ahead of 62% of U.S. towns on civic life, #96 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 Owatonna.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.