Photo: AlabasterPIO · CC BY-SA 4.0Alabaster’s library logs 1.6 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Alabaster - Albert L. Scott Library serves Alabaster’s 33,873 residents. Last year it lent 219K books, movies and e-books and logged 55K visits.
What stands out about Alabaster’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Alabaster’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Alabaster is ahead of 9% of U.S. towns, #122 of 156 in Alabama. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Alabaster’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($69K–$114K) 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 →
82 community nonprofits are registered in Alabaster
2.4 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 (24 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 7 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.2%
5.2% of Alabaster’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 4.8% in the typical Alabama 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 Alabaster’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Alabaster - Albert L. Scott Library serves 33,873 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 73 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
219K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 56K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.7 times last year, on average.
66,402 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 5 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 Alabaster last year.
Find it
Alabaster - Albert L. Scott Library, 100 9th Street N.W., Alabaster.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Alabaster? 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 $3.53 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Alabaster cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1M 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 9,333 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Alabaster ranks 2nd of 4 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pelham | Pelham Public Library | 8.3 | 56 | B |
| Alabaster | Alabaster - Albert L. Scott Library | 6.5 | 58 | D |
| Helena | Helena - Jane B. Holmes Public Library | 3.4 | 42 | C− |
| Calera | Calera Public Library fine-free | 1.9 | 54 | D |
| Brantleyville | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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 Alabaster
Does Alabaster have a public library?
Yes. Alabaster - Albert L. Scott Library, 100 9th Street N.W., serves Alabaster’s 33,873 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 58 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Alabaster - Albert L. Scott 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 Alabaster’s library?
It logged 1.6 visits and lent 6.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Alabaster’s civic life grade?
D Alabaster is ahead of 9% of U.S. towns on civic life, #122 of 156 in Alabama. 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 Alabaster.
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.