Photo: Civilengtiger · CC BY-SA 4.0Helena’s library logs 1.2 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Helena - Jane B. Holmes Public Library serves Helena’s 21,862 residents. Last year it lent 75K print books and media and logged 25K visits.
What Helena’s library is like
Programs are almost all for children
80% of the 242 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 1.9 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 65% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 60% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
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 Helena’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Helena is ahead of 18% of U.S. towns, #86 of 156 in Alabama. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Helena - Jane B. Holmes Public Library spends $19 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 ($86K–$144K) 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 →
54 community nonprofits are registered in Helena
2.5 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 (12 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.7%
7.7% of Helena’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 Helena’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Helena - Jane B. Holmes Public Library serves 21,862 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 34 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
75K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 40K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.9 times last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 4 kids’ programs a week
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 Helena last year.
Find it
Helena - Jane B. Holmes Public Library, 230 Tucker Road, Helena.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Helena? 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 $2.60 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Helena cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $423K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $423K 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 7,057 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Helena ranks 4th of 5 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
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. Helena - Jane B. Holmes Public 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 Helena
Does Helena have a public library?
Yes. Helena - Jane B. Holmes Public Library, 230 Tucker Road, serves Helena’s 21,862 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 42 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Helena - Jane B. Holmes 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 Helena’s library?
It logged 1.2 visits and lent 3.4 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Helena’s civic life grade?
C− Helena is ahead of 18% of U.S. towns on civic life, #86 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 Helena.
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.