Photo: Nsaum75 · CC BY-SA 3.0Santa Fe’s library lends 0.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Mae S Bruce Library serves Santa Fe’s 14,848 residents. Last year it lent 17K books, movies and e-books and logged 20K visits.
What Santa Fe’s library is like
Mae S Bruce Library is used less than most libraries its size
Mae S Bruce Library records 1.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people. Borrowing is 0.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $25 per resident, against a typical $43. How it compares ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 13% of the people Mae S Bruce Library serves have a library card, against a typical 40% for its size. How it compares ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 66% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is lower than at 81% of similar-size libraries, so the high share mostly reflects light borrowing by adults. What people borrow ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Mae S Bruce Library holds 27,000 books and other items, but the average item went out about once every two years last year. 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.
What’s behind Santa Fe’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Santa Fe is ahead of 44% of U.S. towns, #170 of 539 in Texas. Santa Fe’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull 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 →
68 community nonprofits are registered in Santa Fe
5.3 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (12 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.
8.0%
8.0% of Santa Fe’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 5.7% in the typical Texas 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 Santa Fe’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Mae S Bruce Library serves 14,848 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 8 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
17K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 27K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.5 time last year, on average.
3,017 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, 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 Santa Fe last year.
Find it
Mae S Bruce Library, 13302 W 6th St., Santa Fe.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Santa Fe? 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 Santa Fe cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $370K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $340K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $370K 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 1,871 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Santa Fe ranks 3rd 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 Santa Fe
Does Santa Fe have a public library?
Yes. Mae S Bruce Library, 13302 W 6th St., serves Santa Fe’s 14,848 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Mae S Bruce 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 Santa Fe’s library?
It logged 1.4 visits and lent 1.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Santa Fe’s civic life grade?
C+ Santa Fe is ahead of 44% of U.S. towns on civic life, #170 of 539 in Texas. 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 Santa Fe.
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.