Photo: McGhiever · CC BY-SA 3.0Windom’s library lends 6.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Windom Public Library serves Windom’s 4,797 residents. Last year it lent 38K books, movies and e-books and logged 23K visits.
What stands out about Windom’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Windom’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Windom is ahead of 66% of U.S. towns, #86 of 271 in Minnesota. Windom’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 →
47 community nonprofits are registered in Windom
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 (8 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.0%
5.0% of Windom’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 Windom’s residents live; 2022.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
38K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 28K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.2 time last year, on average.
4,671 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 all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Windom Public Library serves 4,797 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 16 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
About 2 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 Windom last year.
Find it
Windom Public Library, 904 4th Avenue, Windom.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Windom? 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 $2.90 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Windom cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $207K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $601K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $207K 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 2,233 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windom | Windom Public Library | 7.9 | 46 | B+ |
| Great Bend Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Lakeside 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. Windom Public 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 Windom
Does Windom have a public library?
Yes. Windom Public Library, 904 4th Avenue, serves Windom’s 4,797 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 46 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Windom 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 Windom’s library?
It logged 4.8 visits and lent 7.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Windom’s civic life grade?
B+ Windom is ahead of 66% of U.S. towns on civic life, #86 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 Windom.
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.