Coosa County Jail · Photo: Rivers Langley; SaveRivers · CC BY-SA 3.0Rockford’s library logs 1.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Rockford Public Library serves Rockford’s 347 residents. Last year it lent 544 books, movies and e-books and logged 580 visits.
What Rockford’s library is like
Rockford Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Rockford Public Library records 1.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Borrowing is 1.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. How it compares ↓
Well funded, but lightly used
Rockford Public Library spends $99 per resident, more than 82% of similar-size libraries. Use doesn’t match: visits per resident are lower than at 81% of them. What your card is worth ↓
A small-town library
Rockford Public Library serves 347 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 39 hours a week. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Rockford’s civic life grade
Rockford isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Rockford Public Library serves 347 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
A year at Rockford Public Library
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
544 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 6,704 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.1 time last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
5 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.
Find it
Rockford Public Library, 9688 Us Hwy 231, Rockford.
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 Rockford? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Rockford cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $34K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $9,989 worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $34K 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 288 cardholders ÷ 12.
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 Rockford
Does Rockford have a public library?
Yes. Rockford Public Library, 9688 Us Hwy 231, serves Rockford’s 347 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 39 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Rockford 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 Rockford’s library?
It logged 1.7 visits and lent 1.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Rockford’s civic life grade?
Rockford isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Rockford.
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.