Photo: Ammodramus · Public domainWinside’s library lends 14 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Lied Winside Public Library serves Winside’s 372 residents. Last year it lent 6,020 books, movies and e-books and logged 2,506 visits.
Winside’s library, in brief
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 78% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 98% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 26 items per child in Winside last year. Kids & programs ↓
More library cards than residents
390 cards for 372 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 ↓
Winside is a town of borrowers
Lied Winside Public Library lends 14 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries serving under 2,500 people, more than 94% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
A small-town library
Lied Winside Public Library serves 372 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 ↓
Open only about 20 hours a week
Lied Winside Public Library keeps short hours: about 20 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
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 Winside’s civic life grade
Winside 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 →
80 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 Winside last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Lied Winside Public Library serves 372 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
6,020 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 13K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
669 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Lied Winside Public Library, 417 Main Street, Winside.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Winside? 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 $2.58 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Winside cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $38K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $97K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $38K 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 390 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Winside
Does Winside have a public library?
Yes. Lied Winside Public Library, 417 Main Street, serves Winside’s 372 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 20 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lied Winside 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 Winside’s library?
It logged 6.7 visits and lent 16.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Winside’s civic life grade?
Winside 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 Winside.
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.