Photo: BigDaveMT · CC BY 3.0Wibaux’s library runs 90 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60 for libraries its size
Wibaux Public Library serves 937 people in and around Wibaux. Last year it lent 6,081 books, movies and e-books and logged 3,850 visits.
What Wibaux’s library is like
Programs lean toward adults
57% of the 84 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 34 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
A well-funded system
Wibaux Public Library spends $144 per resident a year, about twice the typical $54 for a library its size. Almost all of it (97%) comes from local taxes. 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; Wibaux Public Library serves 937 people in and around Wibaux, and its numbers cover all of them; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Wibaux’s civic life grade
Wibaux isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Wibaux cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $135K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $95K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $135K 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 556 cardholders ÷ 12.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Wibaux Public Library serves 937 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 3 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Wibaux Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
6,081 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
1,468 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
84 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.
Find it
Wibaux Public Library, 115 S Wibaux, Wibaux.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Good at every Wibaux Public Library branch.
New in Wibaux? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Wibaux Public Library serves 937 people in and around Wibaux, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Wibaux.
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 Wibaux
Does Wibaux have a public library?
Yes. Wibaux Public Library, 115 S Wibaux, serves 937 people in and around Wibaux (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Wibaux Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Wibaux’s library?
It logged 4.1 visits and lent 6.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Wibaux’s civic life grade?
Wibaux isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Wibaux.
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.