Photo: The original uploader was Robivy64 at English Wikipedia. · Public domainPrattville’s library logs 1.2 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Autauga - Prattville Public Library serves 59,759 people in and around Prattville. Last year it lent 298K books, movies and e-books and logged 69K visits.
The short version on Prattville’s library
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 63% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 70% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Most programs are for young children
69% of the 431 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 3.2 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
83% of the people it serves carry a library card
49,592 cards for 59,759 people, or 83%. At the typical library serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, it’s 39%. How it compares ↓
Runs on less money than most
Autauga - Prattville 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; Autauga - Prattville Public Library serves 59,759 people in and around Prattville, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Prattville’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Prattville is ahead of 16% of U.S. towns, #91 of 156 in Alabama. Prattville is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Prattville’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Autauga - Prattville Public Library spends $9 per resident, against a typical $40 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($61K–$102K) 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 →
134 community nonprofits are registered in Prattville
3.4 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 (52 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 4 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
4.4%
4.4% of Prattville’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 Prattville’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Autauga - Prattville Public Library serves 59,759 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 63 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Autauga - Prattville Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
298K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
42,811 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 6 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
Autauga - Prattville Public Library, 254 Doster Street, Prattville.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Autauga - Prattville Public Library branch.
New in Prattville? 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 $8.14 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Prattville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $532K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $532K 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 49,592 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Millbrook | Millbrook Public Library | 1.9 | 54 | D |
| Prattville | Autauga - Prattville Public Library | — | 43 | C− |
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.
- System-wide. Autauga - Prattville Public Library serves 59,759 people in and around Prattville, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Prattville.
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 Prattville
Does Prattville have a public library?
Yes. Autauga - Prattville Public Library, 254 Doster Street, serves 59,759 people in and around Prattville (the survey’s count) and is open about 43 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Autauga - Prattville 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 Prattville’s library?
It logged 1.2 visits and lent 5.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Prattville’s civic life grade?
C− Prattville is ahead of 16% of U.S. towns on civic life, #91 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 Prattville.
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.