Spink County Courthouse · Photo: JERRYE AND ROY KLOTZ MD · CC BY-SA 3.0Redfield’s library lends 7.7 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Redfield Carnegie Library serves Redfield’s 2,131 residents. Last year it lent 23K books, movies and e-books and logged 12K visits.
What Redfield’s library is like
More library cards than residents
2,202 cards for 2,131 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 ↓
The library is a National Register landmark
Redfield Carnegie Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1978. Today’s library there has 6,094 square feet. The building ↓
A small-town library
Redfield Carnegie Library serves 2,131 residents with about 2 full-time staff, open about 39 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 ↓
Most programs are for young children
79% of the 182 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 2 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3.1 e-items per resident, against a typical 1, higher than at 87% of similar-size libraries. It’s 28% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
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 Redfield’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Redfield is ahead of 78% of U.S. towns. Redfield’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 →
31 community nonprofits are registered in Redfield
15.6 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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.1%
6.1% of Redfield’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 Redfield’s residents live; 2022.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
23K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 21K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.8 time last year, on average.
6,513 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.
Redfield Carnegie Library serves 2,131 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 11 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
About 3 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 Redfield last year.
A National Register landmark since 1978
Redfield Carnegie Library, 5 East 5th Ave., Redfield.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Redfield? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Redfield Carnegie Library
Redfield Carnegie Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Feb 17, 1978. It is significant for its town planning and architecture at the local level. Its architecture is described as Romanesque.
The Redfield Carnegie Library in Redfield, South Dakota is a building from 1902. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. It is a one-story building with a red brick facing above an ashlar-faced foundation. It has a portico with pilasters and paired Doric columns supporting a pediment. The library was funded by a $10,000 Carnegie library grant.
More about the building →For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.79 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Redfield cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $215K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $383K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $215K 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 2,202 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. Redfield Carnegie 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 Redfield
Does Redfield have a public library?
Yes. Redfield Carnegie Library, 5 East 5th Ave., serves Redfield’s 2,131 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 39 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Redfield Carnegie 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 Redfield’s library?
It logged 5.5 visits and lent 10.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Redfield’s civic life grade?
A− Redfield 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 Redfield.
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.