Claybank Log Church · Photo: Katie Pollock · CC BY-SA 4.0Ozark’s library lends 0.4 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Ozark - Dale County Public Library serves 37,869 people in and around Ozark. Last year it lent 25K books, movies and e-books and logged 34K visits.
The short version on Ozark’s library
Ozark - Dale County Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Ozark - Dale County Public Library records 0.9 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people. Borrowing is 0.4 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7. It also spends less than most: $9 per resident, against a typical $40. How it compares ↓
Alabama pays a big share
20% of the budget comes from the state, and 61% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Runs on less money than most
Ozark - Dale County Public Library spends $9 per resident, less than 97% of similar-size libraries (typical: $40). 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; Ozark - Dale County Public Library serves 37,869 people in and around Ozark, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Ozark’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Ozark is ahead of 34% of U.S. towns, #46 of 156 in Alabama. Ozark is graded on two of the three inputs. Ozark’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 ($37K–$61K) 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 →
60 community nonprofits are registered in Ozark
4.2 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 (20 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.7%
5.7% of Ozark’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 Ozark’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Ozark - Dale County Public Library serves 37,869 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 13 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Ozark - Dale County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
25K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
8,149 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 3 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.
Find it
Ozark - Dale County Public Library, 296 North Union Avenue, Ozark.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Ozark - Dale County Public Library branch.
New in Ozark? 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 $1.46 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Ozark cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $341K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $499K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $341K 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 11,897 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Ozark - Dale County Public Library serves 37,869 people in and around Ozark, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Ozark.
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 Ozark
Does Ozark have a public library?
Yes. Ozark - Dale County Public Library, 296 North Union Avenue, serves 37,869 people in and around Ozark (the survey’s count) and is open about 41 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Ozark - Dale 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 Ozark’s library?
It logged 0.9 visits and lent 0.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Ozark’s civic life grade?
C Ozark is ahead of 34% of U.S. towns on civic life, #46 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 Ozark.
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.