Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Mobile’s library runs 7.2 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 9 for libraries its size
Mobile Public Library serves 371,984 people in and around Mobile from 7 locations. Last year it lent 1.2M print books and media and logged 778K visits.
What stands out about Mobile Public Library - Ben May Main Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Mobile’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Mobile is ahead of 25% of U.S. towns, #65 of 156 in Alabama. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #189. Mobile is graded on two of the three inputs. Mobile’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 ($40K–$67K) 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 →
860 community nonprofits are registered in Mobile
4.2 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 (258 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 32 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
4.4%
4.4% of Mobile’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 Mobile’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Mobile Public Library serves 371,984 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 45 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Mobile Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
1.2M print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 33 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.
7 places to borrow in Mobile
Mobile Public Library - Ben May Main Library, 701 Government Street, Mobile.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Mobile Public Library branch.
New in Mobile? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other Mobile Public Library branches in Mobile
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.65 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Mobile cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $11M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $19M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $11M 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 138,405 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spanish Fort | Spanish Fort Public Library | 7.4 | 61 | B |
| Satsuma | Satsuma Public Library | 2.2 | 41 | C− |
| Chickasaw | Chickasaw - Ina Pullen Smallwood Memorial Library | 0.6 | 40 | D− |
| Mobile | Mobile Public Library - Ben May Main Library | — | 59 | C |
| Prichard | Prichard Public Library | — | 45 | D− |
| Saraland | Mobile Public - Saraland Branch Library | — | 50 | D |
| Semmes | Semmes Branch | — | 49 | D− |
| Tillmans Corner | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Theodore | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
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.
- Digital loans not reported. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
- System-wide. Mobile Public Library serves 371,984 people in and around Mobile, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Mobile.
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 Mobile
Does Mobile have a public library?
Yes. Mobile Public Library, 701 Government Street, serves 371,984 people in and around Mobile (the survey’s count) and is open about 59 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Mobile 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 Mobile’s library?
It logged 2.1 visits and lent 3.1 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Mobile’s civic life grade?
C Mobile is ahead of 25% of U.S. towns on civic life, #65 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 Mobile.
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.