Photo: Bobak Ha'Eri · CC BY 3.0Pine Island’s library logs 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Pine Island: Van Horn Public Library serves 11,541 people in and around Pine Island. Last year it lent 35K books, movies and e-books and logged 9,759 visits.
The short version on Pine Island’s library
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, Pine Island: Van Horn Public Library sits below the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on five. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Pine Island: Van Horn Public Library offered 97 programs last year, 8.4 per 1,000 residents against a typical 24. Kids & programs ↓
Fewer visits than most libraries its size
Pine Island: Van Horn Public Library records 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, below 92% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing holds up better, at 2.6 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 58% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is lower than at 56% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
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; Pine Island: Van Horn Public Library serves 11,541 people in and around Pine Island, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Pine Island’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Pine Island is ahead of 97% of U.S. towns, #7 of 271 in Minnesota. Pine Island is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Pine Island’s count of community nonprofits ranks highest.
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 Pine Island
9.8 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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
11.1%
11.1% of Pine Island’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 Pine Island’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Pine Island: Van Horn Public Library serves 11,541 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 17 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Pine Island: Van Horn Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
35K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
4,856 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 1 kids’ program 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
Pine Island: Van Horn Public Library, 115 SE 3rd Street, Pine Island.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Pine Island: Van Horn Public Library branch.
New in Pine Island? 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 $2.01 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Pine Island cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $252K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $507K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $252K 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 2,345 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pine Island | Pine Island: Van Horn Public Library fine-free | — | 40 | A+ |
| New Haven Township | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| Pine Island Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Oronoco Township | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
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. Pine Island: Van Horn Public Library serves 11,541 people in and around Pine Island, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Pine Island.
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 Pine Island
Does Pine Island have a public library?
Yes. Pine Island: Van Horn Public Library, 115 SE 3rd Street, serves 11,541 people in and around Pine Island (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Pine Island: Van Horn 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 Pine Island’s library?
It logged 0.8 visits and lent 3.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Pine Island’s civic life grade?
A+ Pine Island is ahead of 97% of U.S. towns on civic life, #7 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 Pine Island.
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.