Photo: Kylestonephotgraphy · CC BY-SA 4.0Pinson’s library logs 5.5 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Pinson Public Library serves Pinson’s 7,116 residents. Last year it lent 57K books, movies and e-books and logged 39K visits.
What stands out about Pinson’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Pinson’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Pinson is ahead of 28% of U.S. towns, #56 of 156 in Alabama. Library visits hold the grade up; Pinson’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($57K–$96K) 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 →
16 community nonprofits are registered in Pinson
2.0 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 (7 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.2%
5.2% of Pinson’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 Pinson’s residents live; 2022.
253 programs a year
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 Pinson last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Pinson Public Library serves 7,116 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 21 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
57K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 28K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.6 times last year, on average.
13,914 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Pinson Public Library, 4509 Pinson Boulevard, Pinson.
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 Pinson? 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 $2.26 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Pinson cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $401K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $906K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $401K 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 3,831 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Pinson borrows the most per resident of the 3 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pinson | Pinson Public Library fine-free | 8.1 | 53 | C |
| Birmingham | Birmingham Public - Central Branch | 3.2 | 52 | B |
| Center Point | Center Point Public Library fine-free | 0.9 | 56 | D− |
| Clay | None of its own | — | — | D |
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 Pinson
Does Pinson have a public library?
Yes. Pinson Public Library, 4509 Pinson Boulevard, serves Pinson’s 7,116 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 53 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Pinson Public 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 Pinson’s library?
It logged 5.5 visits and lent 8.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Pinson’s civic life grade?
C Pinson is ahead of 28% of U.S. towns on civic life, #56 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 Pinson.
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.