Photo: Jon Platek · CC BY-SA 3.0Redwood Falls’ library lends 8.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Redwood Falls Public Library serves 7,112 people in and around Redwood Falls. Last year it lent 69K books, movies and e-books and logged 35K visits.
What Redwood Falls’s library is like
The branch is a National Register landmark
Redwood Falls Carnegie Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1980. Today’s library there has 14,150 square feet. The building ↓
A system of heavy borrowers
Redwood Falls Public Library lends 8.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, more than 88% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf
Only 8% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 58% 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; Redwood Falls Public Library serves 7,112 people in and around Redwood Falls, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Redwood Falls’ civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Redwood Falls is ahead of 67% of U.S. towns, #81 of 271 in Minnesota. Redwood Falls is graded on two of the three inputs. Redwood Falls’ 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 →
43 community nonprofits are registered in Redwood Falls
8.5 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 (8 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.2%
6.2% of Redwood Falls’ 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 Redwood Falls’ residents live; 2022.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
69K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
5,552 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
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.
Redwood Falls Public Library serves 7,112 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 26 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Redwood Falls Public Library system. The library’s own count.
About 3 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.
A National Register landmark since 1980
Redwood Falls Public Library, 509 South Lincoln Street, Redwood Falls.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Redwood Falls Public Library branch.
New in Redwood Falls? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Redwood Falls Carnegie Library
Redwood Falls Carnegie Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Aug 11, 1980. It is significant for its education at the local level. Its architecture is described as Neo-Classical. It was listed as part of Redwood County MRA.
More about the building →For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.68 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Redwood Falls cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $486K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $486K 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 5,162 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Redwood Falls | Redwood Falls Public Library | — | 51 | B+ |
| Paxton Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Redwood Falls Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Delhi Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Beaver 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. Redwood Falls Public Library serves 7,112 people in and around Redwood Falls, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Redwood Falls.
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 Redwood Falls
Does Redwood Falls have a public library?
Yes. Redwood Falls Public Library, 509 South Lincoln Street, serves 7,112 people in and around Redwood Falls (the survey’s count) and is open about 51 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Redwood Falls 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 Redwood Falls’ library?
It logged 4.9 visits and lent 9.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Redwood Falls’ civic life grade?
B+ Redwood Falls is ahead of 67% of U.S. towns on civic life, #81 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 Redwood Falls.
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; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.