Photo: Andrew Filer · CC BY-SA 2.0Wishek’s library logs 6.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Wishek School & Public Library serves Wishek’s 864 residents. Last year it lent 4,808 books, movies and e-books and logged 5,560 visits.
The short version on Wishek’s library
Open only about 14 hours a week
Wishek School & Public Library keeps short hours: about 14 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
39% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 56%. What your card is worth ↓
A small-town library
Wishek School & Public Library serves 864 residents with about one full-time staff. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 90% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 85% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 23 items per child in Wishek last year. Kids & programs ↓
Runs on less money than most
Wishek School & Public Library spends $6 per resident, less than 99% of similar-size libraries (typical: $54). 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Wishek’s civic life grade
Wishek 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 →
6 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Wishek last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Wishek School & Public Library serves 864 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 6 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
4,808 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 11K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
704 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Wishek School & Public Library, 200 Badger Street S, Wishek.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Wishek? 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 $11.57 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Wishek cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $5,568.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $64K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $5,568 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 406 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Wishek School & Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Wishek
Does Wishek have a public library?
Yes. Wishek School & Public Library, 200 Badger Street S, serves Wishek’s 864 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 14 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Wishek School & Public Library 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 Wishek’s library?
It logged 6.4 visits and lent 5.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Wishek’s civic life grade?
Wishek 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 Wishek.
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.