Photo: Andrew Filer from Seattle (ex-Minneapolis) · CC BY-SA 2.0Bowman’s library logs 6.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Bowman Regional Public Library serves 2,993 people in and around Bowman. Last year it lent 17K books, movies and e-books and logged 19K visits.
What stands out about Bowman Regional Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Bowman’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Bowman is ahead of 96% of U.S. towns. Bowman is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Bowman’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 →
39 community nonprofits are registered in Bowman
26.0 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.9%
9.9% of Bowman’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.9% in the typical North Dakota 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 Bowman’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 9 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Bowman Regional Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Bowman Regional Public Library serves 2,993 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
17K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
5,261 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 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.
Find it
Bowman Regional Public Library, 18 Divide Street East, Bowman.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Bowman Regional Public Library branch.
New in Bowman? 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 $5.04 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Bowman cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $149K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $748K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $149K 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 791 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Bowman Regional Public Library serves 2,993 people in and around Bowman, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Bowman.
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 Bowman
Does Bowman have a public library?
Yes. Bowman Regional Public Library, 18 Divide Street East, serves 2,993 people in and around Bowman (the survey’s count) and is open about 36 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Bowman Regional 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 Bowman’s library?
It logged 6.3 visits and lent 5.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Bowman’s civic life grade?
A+ Bowman is ahead of 96% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Bowman.
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.