Photo: Chris Pruitt · CC BY-SA 3.0Silverhill’s library logs 1.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Oscar Johnson Memorial Library serves Silverhill’s 1,369 residents. Last year it lent 2,290 books, movies and e-books and logged 1,813 visits.
What Silverhill’s library is like
Few programs for a library this size
Oscar Johnson Memorial Library offered 0 programs last year, 0 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
Alabama pays a big share
53% of the budget comes from the state, and 47% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Oscar Johnson Memorial Library is used less than most libraries its size
Oscar Johnson Memorial Library records 1.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Borrowing is 1.7 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $1 per resident, against a typical $54. How it compares ↓
Open only about 18 hours a week
Oscar Johnson Memorial Library keeps short hours: about 18 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
A small-town library
Oscar Johnson Memorial Library serves 1,369 residents with about one full-time staff. 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 Silverhill’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Silverhill is ahead of 5% of U.S. towns, #142 of 156 in Alabama. Silverhill is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the middle.
Oscar Johnson Memorial Library spends $1 per resident, against a typical $54 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($43K–$72K) 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 →
Silverhill has few registered community nonprofits
0.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.6%
5.6% of Silverhill’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 Silverhill’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Oscar Johnson Memorial Library serves 1,369 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 2 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
2,290 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 9,690 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.2 time last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
What kids borrow
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Silverhill last year.
Find it
Oscar Johnson Memorial Library, 21967 Sixth Street, Silverhill.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Silverhill? 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 $22.24 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Silverhill cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $1,450.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $32K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1,450 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 250 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 Silverhill
Does Silverhill have a public library?
Yes. Oscar Johnson Memorial Library, 21967 Sixth Street, serves Silverhill’s 1,369 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 18 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Oscar Johnson Memorial 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 Silverhill’s library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 1.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Silverhill’s civic life grade?
D− Silverhill is ahead of 5% of U.S. towns on civic life, #142 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 Silverhill.
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.