Photo: Brian Stansberry (photographer) · CC BY 3.0Gruetli-Laager’s library logs 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Palmer Public Library serves Gruetli-Laager’s 1,366 residents. Last year it lent 3,414 books, movies and e-books and logged 997 visits.
What Gruetli-Laager’s library is like
Palmer Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Palmer Public Library records 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Borrowing is 1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $10 per resident, against a typical $54. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Palmer Public Library offered 5 programs last year, 3.7 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
Most of Gruetli-Laager’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 59% of loans, more per resident than at 62% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 41%. What people borrow ↓
A small-town library
Palmer Public Library serves 1,366 residents with about one full-time staff. 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 ↓
Open only about 20 hours a week
Palmer Public Library keeps short hours: about 20 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
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 Gruetli-Laager’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Gruetli-Laager is ahead of 13% of U.S. towns. Gruetli-Laager’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Palmer Public Library spends $10 per resident, against a typical $54 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($35K–$59K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
6 community nonprofits are registered in Gruetli-Laager
4.1 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.
4.3%
4.3% of Gruetli-Laager’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.7% in the typical Tennessee 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 Gruetli-Laager’s residents live; 2022.
59% of borrowing is digital
3,414 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 7,657 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.2 time last year, on average.
2,024 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 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Palmer Public Library serves 1,366 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 3 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
5 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 Gruetli-Laager last year.
Find it
Palmer Public Library, Highway 108, Palmer.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Gruetli-Laager? 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 $4.04 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Gruetli-Laager cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $14K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $55K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $14K 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 705 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Gruetli-Laager ranks 2nd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
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.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Gruetli-Laager
Does Gruetli-Laager have a public library?
Yes. Palmer Public Library, Highway 108, serves Gruetli-Laager’s 1,366 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 20 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Palmer Public 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 Gruetli-Laager’s library?
It logged 0.7 visits and lent 2.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Gruetli-Laager’s civic life grade?
D Gruetli-Laager is ahead of 13% 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 Gruetli-Laager.
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.