Photo: WeaponizingArchitecture · CC BY-SA 4.0Pierre’s library logs 4.2 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
R. E. Rawlins Municipal Library serves 16,055 people in and around Pierre. Last year it lent 124K books, movies and e-books and logged 68K visits.
What stands out about R. E. Rawlins Municipal Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Pierre’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Pierre is ahead of 84% of U.S. towns, #9 of 31 in South Dakota. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; Pierre’s count of community nonprofits ranks highest.
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 →
143 community nonprofits are registered in Pierre
10.3 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 (23 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
8.3%
8.3% of Pierre’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 Pierre’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
R. E. Rawlins Municipal Library serves 16,055 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 38 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole R. E. Rawlins Municipal Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
124K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
34,214 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 3 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
Find it
R. E. Rawlins Municipal Library, 1000 E. Church St., Pierre.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every R. E. Rawlins Municipal Library branch.
New in Pierre? 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 $2.15 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Pierre cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $913K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $913K 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 6,456 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. R. E. Rawlins Municipal Library serves 16,055 people in and around Pierre, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Pierre.
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 Pierre
Does Pierre have a public library?
Yes. R. E. Rawlins Municipal Library, 1000 E. Church St., serves 16,055 people in and around Pierre (the survey’s count) and is open about 63 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is R. E. Rawlins Municipal 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 Pierre’s library?
It logged 4.2 visits and lent 7.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Pierre’s civic life grade?
A− Pierre is ahead of 84% of U.S. towns on civic life, #9 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 Pierre.
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.