W. S. Blackwell House · Photo: Chris Pruitt · CC BY-SA 3.0Greenville’s library logs 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Greenville - Butler County Public Library serves 18,650 people in and around Greenville. Last year it lent 15K books, movies and e-books and logged 13K visits.
Greenville’s library, in brief
Greenville - Butler County Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Greenville - Butler County Public Library records 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people. Borrowing is 0.5 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $11 per resident, against a typical $43. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Greenville - Butler County Public Library offered 151 programs last year, 8.1 per 1,000 residents against a typical 24. Kids & programs ↓
Runs on less money than most
Greenville - Butler County Public Library spends $11 per resident, less than 94% 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; Greenville - Butler County Public Library serves 18,650 people in and around Greenville, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Greenville’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Greenville is ahead of 40% of U.S. towns, #33 of 156 in Alabama. Greenville is graded on two of the three inputs. Greenville’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
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 →
45 community nonprofits are registered in Greenville
6.3 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 (9 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
4.0%
4.0% of Greenville’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 Greenville’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Greenville - Butler County Public Library serves 18,650 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 6 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Greenville - Butler County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
15K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
5,423 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 1 kids’ program 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
Greenville - Butler County Public Library, 309 Fort Dale Street, Greenville.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Greenville - Butler County Public Library branch.
New in Greenville? 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 $1.21 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Greenville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $211K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $255K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $211K 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 6,050 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Greenville - Butler County Public Library serves 18,650 people in and around Greenville, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Greenville.
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 Greenville
Does Greenville have a public library?
Yes. Greenville - Butler County Public Library, 309 Fort Dale Street, serves 18,650 people in and around Greenville (the survey’s count) and is open about 46 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Greenville - Butler County 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 Greenville’s library?
It logged 0.7 visits and lent 0.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Greenville’s civic life grade?
C+ Greenville is ahead of 40% of U.S. towns on civic life, #33 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 Greenville.
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.