Chickasaw Shipyard Village Historic District · Photo: Cecouchman · CC BY-SA 3.0Chickasaw’s library logs 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Chickasaw - Ina Pullen Smallwood Memorial Library serves Chickasaw’s 6,310 residents. Last year it lent 3,730 books, movies and e-books and logged 4,463 visits.
The short version on Chickasaw’s library
Chickasaw - Ina Pullen Smallwood Memorial Library is used less than most libraries its size
Chickasaw - Ina Pullen Smallwood Memorial Library records 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people. Borrowing is 0.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8. It also spends less than most: $14 per resident, against a typical $43. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Chickasaw - Ina Pullen Smallwood Memorial Library offered 34 programs last year, 5.4 per 1,000 residents against a typical 34. Kids & programs ↓
Runs on less money than most
Chickasaw - Ina Pullen Smallwood Memorial Library spends $14 per resident, less than 92% 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.
What’s behind Chickasaw’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Chickasaw is ahead of 3% of U.S. towns, #147 of 156 in Alabama. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the middle.
Chickasaw - Ina Pullen Smallwood Memorial Library spends $14 per resident, against a typical $43 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($35K–$58K) 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 →
10 community nonprofits are registered in Chickasaw
1.6 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 (6 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.2%
5.2% of Chickasaw’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 Chickasaw’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Chickasaw - Ina Pullen Smallwood Memorial Library serves 6,310 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 2 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
3,730 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 20K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.2 time last year, on average.
64 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
34 programs a year
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 Chickasaw last year.
Find it
Chickasaw - Ina Pullen Smallwood Memorial Library, 224 Grant Street, Chickasaw.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Chickasaw? 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 Chickasaw cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $87K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $58K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $87K 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 1,357 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.
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 Chickasaw
Does Chickasaw have a public library?
Yes. Chickasaw - Ina Pullen Smallwood Memorial Library, 224 Grant Street, serves Chickasaw’s 6,310 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Chickasaw - Ina Pullen Smallwood Memorial 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 Chickasaw’s library?
It logged 0.7 visits and lent 0.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Chickasaw’s civic life grade?
D− Chickasaw is ahead of 3% of U.S. towns on civic life, #147 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 Chickasaw.
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.