Photo: Rudi Weikard · CC BY-SA 3.0Bessemer’s library logs 0.9 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Bessemer Public Library serves Bessemer’s 25,264 residents. Last year it lent 51K books, movies and e-books and logged 22K visits.
The short version on Bessemer’s library
Bessemer Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Bessemer Public Library records 0.9 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people. Borrowing is 1.3 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7. How it compares ↓
Every town next door borrows more
Bessemer’s library lends 2 items per resident. Each of the four neighboring towns with a library of its own lends more, led by Hoover at 15. Libraries next door ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
32% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 64%. What your card is worth ↓
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 Bessemer’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Bessemer is ahead of 13% of U.S. towns, #104 of 156 in Alabama. Bessemer’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Bessemer’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 ($30K–$50K) 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 →
111 community nonprofits are registered in Bessemer
4.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (45 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 4 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
3.3%
3.3% of Bessemer’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 Bessemer’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Bessemer Public Library serves 25,264 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 18 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
51K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 41K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.8 time last year, on average.
18,934 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 4 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 Bessemer last year.
Find it
Bessemer Public Library, 400 19th Street N, Bessemer.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Bessemer? 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 Bessemer cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $802K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.2M 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 9,617 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Bessemer ranks 5th of 5 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hoover | Hoover Public Library | 14.9 | 64 | B |
| Hueytown | Hueytown Public Library | 6.3 | 39 | D |
| Helena | Helena - Jane B. Holmes Public Library | 3.4 | 42 | C− |
| Birmingham | Birmingham Public - Central Branch | 3.2 | 52 | B |
| Bessemer | Bessemer Public Library | 2.0 | 55 | D |
| McCalla | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Brighton | None of its own | — | — | D− |
| Lipscomb | None of its own | — | — | D− |
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. Bessemer 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 Bessemer
Does Bessemer have a public library?
Yes. Bessemer Public Library, 400 19th Street N, serves Bessemer’s 25,264 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 55 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Bessemer 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 Bessemer’s library?
It logged 0.9 visits and lent 2.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Bessemer’s civic life grade?
D Bessemer is ahead of 13% of U.S. towns on civic life, #104 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 Bessemer.
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.