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Elsie E. Jurgens Memorial Library · part of Madison County Library System

Ridgeland’s library is a branch of Madison County Library System, which lends less per resident than 72% of systems its size

Ridgeland’s library is the Elsie E. Jurgens Memorial Library, a branch of Madison County Library System, which serves 112,511 people and lent 309K items last year.

397 Highway 51 North, Ridgeland 39157 · about 52 hours a week
C+Civic lifeAhead of 43% of U.S. towns · #11 of 85 in Mississippi. Nonprofits and volunteering.
Directions (601) 856-4536 What’s a card worth?
Borrowed a year
309K
2.7 per resident
Visits a year
220K
2 per resident · Below typical (2.1)
Programs & events
1,610
about 31 a week · 36K attended
Cardholders
23%
25,992 cards
Open
52 hrs
a week at this branch

What stands out about Elsie E. Jurgens Memorial Library

Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.

Fine-freePart of a bigger system
Civic life grade

What’s behind Ridgeland’s civic life grade

On community nonprofits and volunteering, Ridgeland is ahead of 43% of U.S. towns, #11 of 85 in Mississippi. Ridgeland is graded on two of the three inputs. Ridgeland’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.

C+
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Ridgeland’s overall grade.
–Library visitsServed by a county or regional system, so there is no town figureACommunity nonprofits7.4 per 1,000 residents · MS towns 2.8 · U.S. 3.7DVolunteering3.4% of adults 25–44 · MS towns 4.4% · U.S. 7.5%
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 43%
FewerMore
Mississippi towns we grade (85)Ahead of 88%
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $50K–$83K (8,682)Ahead of 40%

Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($50K–$83K) 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.

How sure. Graded on two inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The volunteering share is a 2022 estimate from Facebook users aged 25–44.

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 →

Places to belong

183 community nonprofits are registered in Ridgeland

7.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture120.49 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation170.69 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans240.98 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services522.11 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education291.18 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.43
Health291.18 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.16
Environment & animals10.04 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.17
Other190.77 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.47

Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (27 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 4 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.

Volunteering

3.4%

3.4% of Ridgeland’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 4.4% in the typical Mississippi 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 Ridgeland’s residents live; 2022.

How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 2 visits · typical 2.1Lower than 56%
Borrowing per resident 2.1 print items · typical 3.2Lower than 72%
Digital borrowing 0.7 e-items · typical 1.4Lower than 76%
Kids’ borrowing 1.3 kids’ items · typical 1.6Lower than 63%
Program attendance 0.3 attendees · typical 0.2Higher than 73%
Programs offered 14.3 per 1,000 residents · typical 9Higher than 74%
Cardholders 23% of residents · typical 41%Lower than 82%
Spending $22 per resident · typical $36Lower than 75%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

Madison County Library System serves 112,511 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.

A year at the library

Every hour the doors are open, about 23 items go out

Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Madison County Library System system. The library’s own count.

220K
visits
2 per resident
309K
loans, print + digital
2.7 per resident
1,610
programs & events
36K attended
26K
library cards
23% of people served
Every open hour23items borrowed
Every week692people at a program
Every day29Wi-Fi sessions
30 staff (full-time equivalent)58 public computers
What people borrow

More than half the print loans are kids’ books

309K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.

309Kloans
Books & media (adults) 29%Kids’ books & media 46%E-books, audio & streaming 25%
From your couch

76,220 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.

Kids & programs

About 11 kids’ programs a week

Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.

Schools in Ridgeland →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–5335
Ages 6–11254
Teens192
Adults643
All ages186
Little ones
6.4

story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.

143K
kids’ books & media borrowed
36K
people at programs
1,610
programs
The building

Find it

Elsie E. Jurgens Memorial Library, 397 Highway 51 North, Ridgeland.

Directions(601) 856-4536
52
hours open a week
11,574
square feet
With a card

No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Madison County Library System branch.

New in Ridgeland? The Handbook →

Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.

What your card is worth

For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.93 worth

Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Ridgeland cardholder borrows.

In a month I’d use…
Books$17 each
1
Kids’ books$12 each
0
E-books & audio$15 each
0
Movies & music$4 each
0
Programs & classes$10 a program
0
Computer & Wi-Fi$3 a session
0
Your card saves you about
$204
a year at retail prices · $17 a month

Who pays for it
$22 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $2.5M.

Local taxes 85%State 11%Federal 0%Gifts & other 4%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $4.8M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.5M 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 25,992 cardholders ÷ 12.

Next door

Libraries next door

Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.

Madison: Rebecca Baine Rigby LibraryJackson: Medgar Evers LibraryMadisonJacksonRidgeland
12+ loans per resident8–124–8Under 4No library / shared system
TownLibraryLoans per residentHoursCivic life
RidgelandElsie E. Jurgens Memorial Library fine-free—52C+
MadisonRebecca Baine Rigby Library fine-free—52B−
JacksonMedgar Evers Library fine-free—47C+

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).

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.

  • System-wide. Elsie E. Jurgens Memorial Library is one branch of Madison County Library System, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 112,511 people it serves.

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 Ridgeland

Does Ridgeland have a public library?

Yes: Elsie E. Jurgens Memorial Library, 397 Highway 51 North, is a branch of Madison County Library System, which serves 112,511 people. The branch is open about 52 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Madison County Library System 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 Ridgeland’s library?

It logged 2.0 visits and lent 2.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.

What is Ridgeland’s civic life grade?

C+ Ridgeland is ahead of 43% of U.S. towns on civic life, #11 of 85 in Mississippi. 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 Ridgeland.

Town Square →
Start a conversation

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.