Photo: Chris Pruitt · CC BY-SA 3.0Evergreen’s library runs 2 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Evergreen Public Library serves 11,206 people in and around Evergreen. Last year it lent 39K books, movies and e-books and logged 7,585 visits.
What Evergreen’s library is like
Few programs for a library this size
Evergreen Public Library offered 22 programs last year, 2 per 1,000 residents against a typical 24. Kids & programs ↓
Fewer visits than most libraries its size
Evergreen Public Library records 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, below 95% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing holds up better, at 3.5 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf
Only 0% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 99% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
75% of the people it serves carry a library card
8,460 cards for 11,206 people, or 75%. At the typical library serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, it’s 40%. How it compares ↓
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; Evergreen Public Library serves 11,206 people in and around Evergreen, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Evergreen’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Evergreen is ahead of 24% of U.S. towns, #70 of 156 in Alabama. Evergreen is graded on two of the three inputs. Evergreen’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 ($31K–$51K) 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 →
16 community nonprofits are registered in Evergreen
4.7 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 (11 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
1.9%
1.9% of Evergreen’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 Evergreen’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Evergreen Public Library serves 11,206 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 17 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Evergreen Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
39K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
22 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
Evergreen - Conecuh County Public Library, 119 Cemetery Avenue, Evergreen.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Evergreen Public Library branch.
New in Evergreen? 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 $1.73 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Evergreen cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $358K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $618K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $358K 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 8,460 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Evergreen Public Library serves 11,206 people in and around Evergreen, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Evergreen.
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 Evergreen
Does Evergreen have a public library?
Yes. Evergreen Public Library, 119 Cemetery Avenue, serves 11,206 people in and around Evergreen (the survey’s count) and is open about 43 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Evergreen 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 Evergreen’s library?
It logged 0.7 visits and lent 3.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Evergreen’s civic life grade?
C− Evergreen is ahead of 24% of U.S. towns on civic life, #70 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 Evergreen.
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.