Photo: Connor401 · CC BY-SA 3.0Sisseton’s library logs 4.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Sisseton Memorial Library serves Sisseton’s 2,418 residents. Last year it lent 11K books, movies and e-books and logged 11K visits.
The short version on Sisseton’s library
A small-town library
Sisseton Memorial Library serves 2,418 residents with about 2 full-time staff, open about 42 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 ↓
The library is a National Register landmark
Sisseton Carnegie Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1996. Today’s library there has 7,200 square feet. The building ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Sisseton Memorial Library holds 33,000 books and other items, but the average item went out less than once last year. What people borrow ↓
40% of borrowing happens on a screen
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 40% of loans, more per resident than at 71% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 60%, much of it kids’ books. 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 Sisseton’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Sisseton is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns. Sisseton’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 →
16 community nonprofits are registered in Sisseton
5.9 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.
6.9%
6.9% of Sisseton’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 Sisseton’s residents live; 2022.
A National Register landmark since 1996
Sisseton Memorial Library, 305 E Maple St., Sisseton.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Sisseton? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Sisseton Carnegie Library
Sisseton Carnegie Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Oct 24, 1996. It is significant for its architecture and town planning at the local level. Its architecture is described as Neo-Classical.
The Sisseton Carnegie Library, located at 215 Oak Street, East, in Sisseton, South Dakota, is a Carnegie library built in 1916. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. It was by then also known as the Pohlen Center and as the Heritage Museum of Roberts County. It is a Classical Revival-style brick building on a pink granite foundation. The architect was George Issenhuth of Huron.
More about the building →Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Sisseton Memorial Library serves 2,418 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 5 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
40% of borrowing is digital
11K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 33K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.2 time last year, on average.
4,430 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
113 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 Sisseton last year.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.12 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Sisseton cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $178K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $199K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $178K 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 1,775 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. Sisseton Memorial 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 Sisseton
Does Sisseton have a public library?
Yes. Sisseton Memorial Library, 305 E Maple St., serves Sisseton’s 2,418 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 42 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Sisseton Memorial 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 Sisseton’s library?
It logged 4.7 visits and lent 4.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Sisseton’s civic life grade?
B+ Sisseton is ahead of 70% 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 Sisseton.
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.