Photo: Calvin Beale · Public domainDouble Springs’ library logs 5.5 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Double Springs Public Library serves Double Springs’s 1,120 residents. Last year it lent 3,068 books, movies and e-books and logged 6,212 visits.
What Double Springs’s library is like
More library cards than residents
1,945 cards for 1,120 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
More of a place to be than a place to borrow
Visits per resident beat 71% of similar-size libraries, while borrowing beats only 23%. The building also logs about 12 Wi-Fi sessions a day. A year at the library ↓
A small-town library
Double Springs Public Library serves 1,120 residents with about 2 full-time staff, open about 43 hours a week. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Double Springs’ civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Double Springs is ahead of 34% of U.S. towns. Library visits hold the grade up; Double Springs’ count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($36K–$60K) 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 →
2 community nonprofits are registered in Double Springs
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 (0 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.1%
6.1% of Double Springs’ 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 Double Springs’ residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Double Springs Public Library serves 1,120 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 1 item goes out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
3,068 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 13K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.2 time last year, on average.
912 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
9 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Double Springs last year.
Find it
Double Springs Public Library, 637 Blake Drive, Double Springs.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Double Springs? 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 Double Springs cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $76K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $63K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $76K 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 1,945 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. Double Springs 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 Double Springs
Does Double Springs have a public library?
Yes. Double Springs Public Library, 637 Blake Drive, serves Double Springs’ 1,120 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 43 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Double Springs 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 Double Springs’ library?
It logged 5.5 visits and lent 2.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Double Springs’ civic life grade?
C Double Springs is ahead of 34% 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 Double Springs.
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.