Odd Fellows Home of Dell Rapids · Photo: Amitzel · CC BY-SA 4.0Dell Rapids’ library lends 6.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Dell Rapids Carnegie Public Library serves Dell Rapids’s 3,868 residents. Last year it lent 35K books, movies and e-books and logged 4,212 visits.
The short version on Dell Rapids’s library
People borrow more than they stay
Borrowing per resident is higher than at 80% of similar-size libraries, but visits are lower than at 86%. People come in, pick up their books and go. How it compares ↓
More library cards than residents
4,060 cards for 3,868 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, it’s 42%. How it compares ↓
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 66% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 89% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 17 items per child in Dell Rapids last year. Kids & programs ↓
The library is a National Register landmark
Carnegie Free Public Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1973. Today’s library there has 5,666 square feet. The building ↓
Most programs are for young children
65% of the 191 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 1.7 a week 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.
What’s behind Dell Rapids’ civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Dell Rapids is ahead of 50% of U.S. towns, #21 of 31 in South Dakota. Dell Rapids’ count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull 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 →
35 community nonprofits are registered in Dell Rapids
9.0 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.
7.7%
7.7% of Dell Rapids’ Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.9% in the typical South Dakota 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 Dell Rapids’ residents live; 2022.
About 2 kids’ programs 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 Dell Rapids last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Dell Rapids Carnegie Public Library serves 3,868 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 13 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
35K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 18K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.5 times last year, on average.
8,268 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
A National Register landmark since 1973
Dell Rapids Carnegie Public Library, 513 N Orleans Avenue, Dell Rapids.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Dell Rapids? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Carnegie Free Public Library
Carnegie Free Public Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Mar 14, 1973. It is significant for its education and architecture at the local level. Its architecture is described as Romanesque and Greek Revival.
The Carnegie Free Public Library, also known as the Carnegie Town Hall, is a historic Carnegie library located at 235 W. 10th St. in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The library was built in 1903 through a $25,000 grant from the Carnegie Foundation. Architect Joseph Schwartz designed the building, a Romanesque Revival structure with Neoclassical influences.
More about the building →For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.53 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Dell Rapids cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $340K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $521K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $340K 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 4,060 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dell Rapids | Dell Rapids Carnegie Public Library | 9.0 | 54 | B− |
| Dell Rapids Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
Loans = print + digital items borrowed in the library’s fiscal year, per person it serves. — = no library of its own, a county or regional system (its numbers cover many towns), or no report. Civic life: — = not graded (unincorporated places, whose nonprofits can’t be placed by mailing address, or towns with fewer than two of the three inputs).
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Dell Rapids Carnegie 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 Dell Rapids
Does Dell Rapids have a public library?
Yes. Dell Rapids Carnegie Public Library, 513 N Orleans Avenue, serves Dell Rapids’ 3,868 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 54 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Dell Rapids Carnegie 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 Dell Rapids’ library?
It logged 1.1 visits and lent 9.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Dell Rapids’ civic life grade?
B− Dell Rapids is ahead of 50% of U.S. towns on civic life, #21 of 31 in South Dakota. 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 Dell Rapids.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.