Photo: Andrew Filer from Seattle (ex-Minneapolis) · CC BY-SA 2.0Pembina’s library lends 6.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Pembina School & City Library serves 512 people in and around Pembina. Last year it lent 5,266 books, movies and e-books and logged 1,727 visits.
What Pembina’s library is like
Open only about 13 hours a week
The Pembina branch keeps short hours: about 13 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
Nearly everyone the system serves has a card
492 cards for 512 people, or 96%. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3.4 e-items per resident, against a typical 1, higher than at 90% of similar-size libraries. It’s 33% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 59% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 83% 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; Pembina School & City Library serves 512 people in and around Pembina, 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 Pembina’s civic life grade
Pembina 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 →
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
5,266 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
1,754 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 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Pembina School & City Library serves 512 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 8 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Pembina School & City Library system. The library’s own count.
8 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
Pembina School & City Library, 155 South Third Street, Pembina.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Pembina School & City Library branch.
New in Pembina? 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 $5.27 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Pembina cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $20K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $107K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $20K 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 492 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Pembina School & City Library serves 512 people in and around Pembina, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Pembina.
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 Pembina
Does Pembina have a public library?
Yes. Pembina School & City Library, 155 South Third Street, serves 512 people in and around Pembina (the survey’s count) and is open about 13 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Pembina School & City 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 Pembina’s library?
It logged 3.4 visits and lent 10.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Pembina’s civic life grade?
Pembina 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 Pembina.
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.