Photo: Chris Pruitt · CC BY-SA 3.0Bay Minette’s library lends 7.8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Bay Minette Public Library serves Bay Minette’s 8,277 residents. Last year it lent 74K books, movies and e-books and logged 22K visits.
What stands out about Bay Minette’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Bay Minette’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Bay Minette is ahead of 11% of U.S. towns, #115 of 156 in Alabama. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; library visits come closest to the middle.
Bay Minette’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 ($33K–$56K) 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 →
18 community nonprofits are registered in Bay Minette
2.1 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 (10 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
4.0%
4.0% of Bay Minette’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 Bay Minette’s residents live; 2022.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
74K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 39K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.7 times last year, on average.
9,339 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 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Bay Minette Public Library serves 8,277 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 29 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
About 2 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 Bay Minette last year.
Find it
Bay Minette Public Library, 205 West Second Street, Bay Minette.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Bay Minette? 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 $2.42 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Bay Minette cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $500K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $500K 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 6,974 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bay Minette | Bay Minette Public Library fine-free | 8.9 | 49 | D |
| Stapleton | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Bay Minette 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 Bay Minette
Does Bay Minette have a public library?
Yes. Bay Minette Public Library, 205 West Second Street, serves Bay Minette’s 8,277 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 49 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Bay Minette 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 Bay Minette’s library?
It logged 2.7 visits and lent 8.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Bay Minette’s civic life grade?
D Bay Minette is ahead of 11% of U.S. towns on civic life, #115 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 Bay Minette.
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.