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Nearly half of library’s 3,113 cardholders live outside the city limits
Data filed with the state shows that Ely’s public library is home to plenty of activity.
There were more than 41,000 visits and more than 53,000 items checked out at the city-operated facility in 2024, according to the Minnesota Public Library Annual Report filed by the city.
That data and more were presented to city council members earlier in the week.
Librarian Rachel Heinrich said the data was helpful on several fronts, showing not only the activity from the library, but its impact beyond Ely’s boundaries - including use by residents of neighboring townships.
While Ely’s population is listed at 3,249 in the report, the library has 3,113 cardholders.
That total, however, is almost evenly split between Ely residents (1,615) and those who live largely in Morse, Fall Lake and Winton (1,498).
Visits to the library declined slightly in 2024 to 41,413, about 1,000 fewer than the previous year.
Ely’s library circulation was 53,375, which counts items physically checked out. Once downloadable circulation was factored in, that total jumped to 65,485. There were 2,115 public internet computer sessions at the facility last year and overall use of the library’s wireless internet skyrocketed to 46,295, nearly double from 2023.
“One of the big surprises was I knew our internet usage is high, our wireless is high, but I didn’t expect it to be quite that high,” said Heinrich. “That’s a lot of people using our wireless.”
Ely patrons received 7,866 items via loan from other libraries in the regional system, while items going from Ely’s collection to outside the area climbed by about 50 percent to 6,176.
“That’s because of a board decision at the end of 2023 to start allowing other users to request our DVDs,” said Heinrich.
Ely’s library is home to an assortment of in-person programs, with 141 scheduled last year, including 60 for children age 11 or younger. Total attendance checked in at 2,120, up by about 100 people from 2023.
Reference transactions, which cover when library staff are asked to look up items, jumped to 5,616 in 2024.
All in all, the library was an active place, throughout the calendar year.
“You see a different group of people that come in during the winter time,” said Heinrich. “They may be people who work at resorts or do seasonal work during the summer that don’t have time to come in then. Then in the summer, we see a lot of people, property owners who are here for the summer.”
