Photo: Richie Diesterheft from Santa Barbara, CA, USA · CC BY 2.0Jamestown’s library logs 2.6 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
James River Valley Library System serves 21,593 people in and around Jamestown from 2 locations. Last year it lent 118K books, movies and e-books and logged 56K visits.
The short version on Jamestown’s library
The branch is a National Register landmark
Alfred Dickey Free Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1980. Today’s library there has 13,773 square feet. The buildings ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 66% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 68% 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; James River Valley Library System serves 21,593 people in and around Jamestown, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Jamestown’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Jamestown is ahead of 67% of U.S. towns, #4 of 22 in North Dakota. Jamestown is graded on two of the three inputs. Jamestown’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 →
120 community nonprofits are registered in Jamestown
7.6 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (17 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 3 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.5%
6.5% of Jamestown’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 Jamestown’s residents live; 2022.
A National Register landmark since 1980
James River Valley Library System, 105 Third Street SE, Jamestown.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every James River Valley Library System branch.
New in Jamestown? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Alfred Dickey Free Library
Dickey, Alfred, Free Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Jul 3, 1980. It is significant for its education and architecture at the state level.
The Alfred E. Dickey Free Library in Jamestown, North Dakota was built in 1917. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. According to its NRHP nomination, it is "a rare and fine example" of Prairie School architecture in North Dakota. It seems to have been designed by Joseph A. Shannon and Henry J. Scherer.
More about the building →Other James River Valley Library System branches in Jamestown
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
James River Valley Library System serves 21,593 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 24 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole James River Valley Library System system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
118K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
30,800 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.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.63 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Jamestown cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.8M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.1M 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 8,320 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jamestown | James River Valley Library System | — | 56 | B+ |
| Bloom Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Woodbury Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Midway Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Homer 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. James River Valley Library System serves 21,593 people in and around Jamestown, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Jamestown.
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 Jamestown
Does Jamestown have a public library?
Yes. James River Valley Library System, 105 Third Street SE, serves 21,593 people in and around Jamestown (the survey’s count) and is open about 56 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is James River Valley Library System 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 Jamestown’s library?
It logged 2.6 visits and lent 5.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Jamestown’s civic life grade?
B+ Jamestown is ahead of 67% of U.S. towns on civic life, #4 of 22 in North Dakota. 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 Jamestown.
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.