Photo: Idawriter · CC BY-SA 3.0Eagle Butte’s library logs 0.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Dakota Club Library serves 3,550 people in and around Eagle Butte. Last year it lent 772 books, movies and e-books and logged 1,275 visits.
What Eagle Butte’s library is like
Dakota Club Library is used less than most libraries its size
Dakota Club Library records 0.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people. Borrowing is 0.2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8. It also spends less than most: $5 per resident, against a typical $43. How it compares ↓
Open only about 15 hours a week
The Eagle Butte branch keeps short hours: about 15 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
Runs on less money than most
Dakota Club Library spends $5 per resident, less than 99% of similar-size libraries (typical: $43). 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; Dakota Club Library serves 3,550 people in and around Eagle Butte, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Eagle Butte’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Eagle Butte is ahead of 78% of U.S. towns. Eagle Butte is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Eagle Butte’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
5 community nonprofits are registered in Eagle Butte
3.6 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
12.2%
12.2% of Eagle Butte’s 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 Eagle Butte’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Dakota Club Library serves 3,550 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 1 item goes out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Dakota Club Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
772 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
What kids borrow
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Find it
Dakota Club Library, 219 Main, Eagle Butte.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Dakota Club Library branch.
New in Eagle Butte? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Eagle Butte cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $17K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $12K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $17K 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 1,970 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eagle Butte | Dakota Club Library fine-free | — | 15 | A− |
| North Eagle Butte | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
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.
- System-wide. Dakota Club Library serves 3,550 people in and around Eagle Butte, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Eagle Butte.
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 Eagle Butte
Does Eagle Butte have a public library?
Yes. Dakota Club Library, 219 Main, serves 3,550 people in and around Eagle Butte (the survey’s count) and is open about 15 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Dakota Club 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 Eagle Butte’s library?
It logged 0.4 visits and lent 0.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Eagle Butte’s civic life grade?
A− Eagle Butte is ahead of 78% 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 Eagle Butte.
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.