Photo: RuralSWAlabama (Billy Milstead) · CC BY 3.0Butler’s library logs 0.6 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Choctaw County Public Library serves 12,439 people in and around Butler. Last year it lent 6,681 books, movies and e-books and logged 6,993 visits.
Butler’s library, in brief
Choctaw County Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Choctaw County Public Library records 0.6 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people. Borrowing is 0.4 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $7 per resident, against a typical $43. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Choctaw County Public Library offered 36 programs last year, 2.9 per 1,000 residents against a typical 24. Kids & programs ↓
Runs on less money than most
Choctaw County Public Library spends $7 per resident, less than 98% of similar-size libraries (typical: $43). 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; Choctaw County Public Library serves 12,439 people in and around Butler, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Butler’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Butler is ahead of 29% of U.S. towns. Butler is graded on two of the three inputs. Butler’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($36K–$59K) 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 →
12 community nonprofits are registered in Butler
5.2 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 (7 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
2.6%
2.6% of Butler’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 Butler’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Choctaw County Public Library serves 12,439 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 2 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Choctaw County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
6,681 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
1,675 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
36 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
Find it
Choctaw County Public Library, 124 North Academy Avenue, Butler.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Choctaw County Public Library branch.
New in Butler? 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 $1.40 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Butler cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $93K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $130K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $93K 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 3,364 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Choctaw County Public Library serves 12,439 people in and around Butler, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Butler.
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 Butler
Does Butler have a public library?
Yes. Choctaw County Public Library, 124 North Academy Avenue, serves 12,439 people in and around Butler (the survey’s count) and is open about 32 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Choctaw County 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 Butler’s library?
It logged 0.6 visits and lent 0.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Butler’s civic life grade?
C Butler is ahead of 29% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Butler.
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.