Perkins County Courthouse · Photo: Ammodramus · CC0Grant’s library logs 13 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Hastings Memorial Library serves Grant’s 1,136 residents. Last year it lent 28K books, movies and e-books and logged 15K visits.
What Grant’s library is like
More library cards than residents
1,579 cards for 1,136 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
Most of Grant’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 58% of loans, more per resident than at 99% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 42%, much of it kids’ books. What people borrow ↓
Grant uses its library more than almost any town its size
Hastings Memorial Library logs 13 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people, and lends 10 print items per resident against a typical 3.9. On both counts it beats 87% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 60% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 92% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 19 items per child in Grant last year. Kids & programs ↓
A small-town library
Hastings Memorial Library serves 1,136 residents with about 2 full-time staff, open about 38 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 ↓
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 Grant’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Grant is ahead of 77% of U.S. towns. Grant’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 →
27 community nonprofits are registered in Grant
19.1 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 (6 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
3.8%
3.8% of Grant’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 Grant’s residents live; 2022.
58% of borrowing is digital
28K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 15K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.8 time last year, on average.
16,328 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 all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Hastings Memorial Library serves 1,136 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 14 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
126 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 Grant last year.
Find it
Hastings Memorial Library, 505 Central Avenue, Grant.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Grant? 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 $3.02 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Grant cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $141K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $425K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $141K 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 1,579 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. Hastings Memorial 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 Grant
Does Grant have a public library?
Yes. Hastings Memorial Library, 505 Central Avenue, serves Grant’s 1,136 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 38 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Hastings Memorial 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 Grant’s library?
It logged 13.1 visits and lent 24.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Grant’s civic life grade?
A− Grant is ahead of 77% 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 Grant.
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.