Photo: themidnite (original), Yassie (derivative work · CC BY-SA 3.0Florence’s library logs 1.2 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Florence - Lauderdale Public Library serves 92,744 people in and around Florence. Last year it lent 273K books, movies and e-books and logged 109K visits.
The short version on Florence’s library
Few programs for a library this size
Florence - Lauderdale Public Library offered 561 programs last year, 6 per 1,000 residents against a typical 14. Kids & programs ↓
Runs on less money than most
Florence - Lauderdale Public Library spends $13 per resident, less than 92% of similar-size libraries (typical: $40). 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; Florence - Lauderdale Public Library serves 92,744 people in and around Florence, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Florence’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Florence is ahead of 28% of U.S. towns, #58 of 156 in Alabama. Florence is graded on two of the three inputs. Florence’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 ($39K–$65K) 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 →
162 community nonprofits are registered in Florence
3.9 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 (47 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 3 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.5%
5.5% of Florence’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 Florence’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Florence - Lauderdale Public Library serves 92,744 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 105 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Florence - Lauderdale Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
273K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
92,332 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 7 kids’ programs a week
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
Florence - Lauderdale Public Library, 350 North Wood Avenue, Florence.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Florence - Lauderdale Public Library branch.
New in Florence? 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 $3.52 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Florence cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4.1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.2M 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 39,407 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florence | Florence - Lauderdale Public Library | — | 53 | C |
| Underwood-Petersville | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| St. Florian | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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.
- System-wide. Florence - Lauderdale Public Library serves 92,744 people in and around Florence, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Florence.
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 Florence
Does Florence have a public library?
Yes. Florence - Lauderdale Public Library, 350 North Wood Avenue, serves 92,744 people in and around Florence (the survey’s count) and is open about 53 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Florence - Lauderdale 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 Florence’s library?
It logged 1.2 visits and lent 2.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Florence’s civic life grade?
C Florence is ahead of 28% of U.S. towns on civic life, #58 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 Florence.
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.