Flintridge Building · Photo: Robert P Collins · CC BY-SA 3.0Fairfield’s library logs 0.2 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Fairfield - Walter J. Hanna Memorial Library serves Fairfield’s 9,690 residents. Last year it lent 2,134 print books and media and logged 1,618 visits.
What Fairfield’s library is like
Fairfield - Walter J. Hanna Memorial Library is used less than most libraries its size
Fairfield - Walter J. Hanna Memorial Library records 0.2 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people. Borrowing is 0.2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8. It also spends less than most: $7 per resident, against a typical $43. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Fairfield - Walter J. Hanna Memorial Library offered 26 programs last year, 2.7 per 1,000 residents against a typical 34. Kids & programs ↓
Runs on less money than most
Fairfield - Walter J. Hanna Memorial 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.
What’s behind Fairfield’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Fairfield is ahead of 17% of U.S. towns, #88 of 156 in Alabama. Fairfield’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Fairfield - Walter J. Hanna Memorial Library spends $7 per resident, against a typical $43 for libraries its size, and its 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 ($36K–$61K) 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 →
53 community nonprofits are registered in Fairfield
5.5 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 (16 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
4.1%
4.1% of Fairfield’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 Fairfield’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Fairfield - Walter J. Hanna Memorial Library serves 9,690 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 1 item goes out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
2,134 print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 16K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.1 time last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
26 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 Fairfield last year.
Find it
Fairfield - Walter J. Hanna Memorial Library, 4615 Gary Avenue, Fairfield.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Fairfield? 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 Fairfield cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $71K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $38K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $71K 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 2,134 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.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birmingham | Birmingham Public - Central Branch | 3.2 | 52 | B |
| Fairfield | Fairfield - Walter J. Hanna Memorial Library | 0.2 | 40 | C− |
| Midfield | 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. Fairfield - Walter J. Hanna Memorial Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
- Digital loans not reported. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
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 Fairfield
Does Fairfield have a public library?
Yes. Fairfield - Walter J. Hanna Memorial Library, 4615 Gary Avenue, serves Fairfield’s 9,690 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Fairfield - Walter J. Hanna 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 Fairfield’s library?
It logged 0.2 visits and lent 0.2 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Fairfield’s civic life grade?
C− Fairfield is ahead of 17% of U.S. towns on civic life, #88 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 Fairfield.
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.