Photo: Ammodramus · Public domainAinsworth’s library logs 15 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Ainsworth Public Library serves Ainsworth’s 1,590 residents. Last year it lent 13K books, movies and e-books and logged 23K visits.
What Ainsworth’s library is like
48% of borrowing happens on a screen
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 48% of loans, more per resident than at 92% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 52%, much of it kids’ books. What people borrow ↓
People come to Ainsworth Public Library a lot
Ainsworth Public Library logs 15 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people, more than 95% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing is above typical too, at 4.2 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
A small-town library
Ainsworth Public Library serves 1,590 residents with about 2 full-time staff, open about 34 hours a week. 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 ↓
Nearly everyone in Ainsworth has a card
1,522 cards for 1,590 people, or 96%. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
Most programs are for young children
67% of the 90 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including 30 for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
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 Ainsworth’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Ainsworth is ahead of 84% of U.S. towns. Ainsworth’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 →
23 community nonprofits are registered in Ainsworth
13.6 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 (7 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.9%
5.9% of Ainsworth’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.9% in the typical Nebraska 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 Ainsworth’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 7 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Ainsworth Public Library serves 1,590 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
48% of borrowing is digital
13K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 30K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.2 time last year, on average.
6,207 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 1 kids’ program a week
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 Ainsworth last year.
Find it
Ainsworth Public Library, 445 North Main Street, Ainsworth.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Ainsworth? 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 $1.22 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Ainsworth cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $164K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $199K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $164K 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 1,522 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. Ainsworth 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 Ainsworth
Does Ainsworth have a public library?
Yes. Ainsworth Public Library, 445 North Main Street, serves Ainsworth’s 1,590 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 34 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Ainsworth 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 Ainsworth’s library?
It logged 14.7 visits and lent 8.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Ainsworth’s civic life grade?
A− Ainsworth is ahead of 84% 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 Ainsworth.
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.