Photo: Johntrinh06 · CC BY 4.0Hoover’s library lends 10 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Hoover Public Library serves Hoover’s 92,435 residents. Last year it lent 1.4M books, movies and e-books and logged 381K visits.
What Hoover’s library is like
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 59% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 94% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 24 items per child in Hoover last year. Kids & programs ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 4.8 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.2, higher than at 96% of similar-size libraries. It’s 32% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
Top 10% in Alabama for borrowing
Hoover ranks #6 of 70 Alabama towns with a library of their own for items borrowed per resident. Print borrowing alone runs 10 items per resident, more than at 90% of similar-size libraries nationwide. How it compares ↓
The shelves work hard
Each of the 204,000 items on the shelves went out about 4.6 times last year, on average. What people borrow ↓
Open about 64 hours a week
Hoover Public Library is open about 64 hours a week, averaged over the year. Every hour the doors are open, about 413 items go out. The building ↓
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 Hoover’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Hoover is ahead of 56% of U.S. towns, #17 of 156 in Alabama. Library visits hold 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 →
364 community nonprofits are registered in Hoover
3.9 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 (69 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 16 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.4%
7.4% of Hoover’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 Hoover’s residents live; 2022.
About 10 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 Hoover last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Hoover Public Library serves 92,435 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 413 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
1.4M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 204K books and other items on the shelves went out about 4.6 times last year, on average.
442,387 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Hoover Public Library, 200 Municipal Drive, Hoover.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Hoover? 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 $2.33 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Hoover cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $8.9M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $21M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $8.9M 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 39,010 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Hoover ranks 2nd of 7 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Homewood | Homewood Public Library | 19.4 | 63 | A− |
| Hoover | Hoover Public Library | 14.9 | 64 | B |
| Vestavia Hills | Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest | 12.1 | 59 | A− |
| Pelham | Pelham Public Library | 8.3 | 56 | B |
| Helena | Helena - Jane B. Holmes Public Library | 3.4 | 42 | C− |
| Birmingham | Birmingham Public - Central Branch | 3.2 | 52 | B |
| Bessemer | Bessemer Public Library | 2.0 | 55 | D |
| Meadowbrook | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Eagle Point | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Indian Springs Village | None of its own | — | — | D |
| Dunnavant | 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.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Hoover
Does Hoover have a public library?
Yes. Hoover Public Library, 200 Municipal Drive, serves Hoover’s 92,435 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 64 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Hoover 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 Hoover’s library?
It logged 4.1 visits and lent 14.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Hoover’s civic life grade?
B Hoover is ahead of 56% of U.S. towns on civic life, #17 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 Hoover.
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.