Photo: Robert Donovan from Franklin, TN, USA · CC BY 2.0Mountain Brook’s library lends 14 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Mountain Brook - Emmet O'Neal Library serves Mountain Brook’s 21,955 residents. Last year it lent 436K books, movies and e-books and logged 155K visits.
The short version on Mountain Brook’s library
Mountain Brook borrows more library books per person than any town in Alabama
Out of 70 Alabama towns with a library of their own, Mountain Brook comes first for items borrowed per resident. It’s also #3 for kids’ borrowing. How it compares ↓
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 63% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 99% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 31 items per child in Mountain Brook last year. Kids & programs ↓
Mountain Brook uses its library more than almost any town its size
Mountain Brook - Emmet O'Neal Library logs 7.1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, and lends 14 print items per resident against a typical 3.9. On both counts it beats 91% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 5.4 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.1, higher than at 98% of similar-size libraries. It’s 27% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
Mountain Brook out-borrows every town next door
At 19.9 loans per resident, Mountain Brook leads the five towns here. The closest is Homewood, at 19.4. Libraries next door ↓
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 Mountain Brook’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Mountain Brook is ahead of 94% of U.S. towns, #1 of 156 in Alabama. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; library visits rank highest.
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 →
142 community nonprofits are registered in Mountain Brook
6.5 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 (23 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 6 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
10.7%
10.7% of Mountain Brook’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 Mountain Brook’s residents live; 2022.
About 14 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 Mountain Brook last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Mountain Brook - Emmet O'Neal Library serves 21,955 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 142 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
436K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 126K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.5 times last year, on average.
119,338 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Mountain Brook - Emmet O'Neal Library, 50 Oak Street, Mountain Brook.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Mountain Brook? 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 $1.69 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Mountain Brook cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $3.9M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3.9M budget.
Fine-free. No late fees on books returned late.
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 17,865 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Mountain Brook borrows the most per resident of the 5 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mountain Brook | Mountain Brook - Emmet O'Neal Library fine-free | 19.9 | 59 | A |
| Homewood | Homewood Public Library | 19.4 | 63 | A− |
| Vestavia Hills | Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest | 12.1 | 59 | A− |
| Irondale | Irondale Public Library | 5.8 | 40 | B |
| Birmingham | Birmingham Public - Central Branch | 3.2 | 52 | B |
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 Mountain Brook
Does Mountain Brook have a public library?
Yes. Mountain Brook - Emmet O'Neal Library, 50 Oak Street, serves Mountain Brook’s 21,955 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 59 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Mountain Brook - Emmet O'Neal Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Mountain Brook’s library?
It logged 7.1 visits and lent 19.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Mountain Brook’s civic life grade?
A Mountain Brook is ahead of 94% of U.S. towns on civic life, #1 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 Mountain Brook.
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.