Photo: formulanone · CC BY-SA 2.0Arab’s library logs 1.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Arab Public Library serves Arab’s 8,623 residents. Last year it lent 51K books, movies and e-books and logged 16K visits.
What stands out about Arab’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Arab’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Arab is ahead of 9% of U.S. towns, #125 of 156 in Alabama. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; library visits come closest to the middle.
Arab’s 2024 visits are an estimate from one typical week (the survey’s method for libraries that don’t count every visit).
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($48K–$80K) 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 →
17 community nonprofits are registered in Arab
2.0 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.3%
5.3% of Arab’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 Arab’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Arab Public Library serves 8,623 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 25 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
51K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 53K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.8 time last year, on average.
11,222 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 1 kids’ program 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 Arab last year.
Find it
Arab Public Library, 325 2nd Street NW, Arab.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Arab? 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 $2.45 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Arab cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $333K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $815K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $333K 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 8,614 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. Arab Public 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 Arab
Does Arab have a public library?
Yes. Arab Public Library, 325 2nd Street NW, serves Arab’s 8,623 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Arab Public 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 Arab’s library?
It logged 1.8 visits and lent 6.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Arab’s civic life grade?
D Arab is ahead of 9% of U.S. towns on civic life, #125 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 Arab.
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.