Spanish Fort’s library runs 40 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Spanish Fort Public Library serves Spanish Fort’s 10,656 residents. Last year it lent 79K books, movies and e-books and logged 46K visits.
What stands out about Spanish Fort’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Spanish Fort’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Spanish Fort is ahead of 58% of U.S. towns, #14 of 156 in Alabama. Spanish Fort’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
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 →
52 community nonprofits are registered in Spanish Fort
4.9 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 (13 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.4%
6.4% of Spanish Fort’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 Spanish Fort’s residents live; 2022.
About 5 kids’ programs a week
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 Spanish Fort last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Spanish Fort Public Library serves 10,656 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 25 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
79K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 21K books and other items on the shelves went out about 3.1 times last year, on average.
11,816 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Spanish Fort Public Library, 7361 Spanish Fort Blvd, Spanish Fort.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Spanish Fort? 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 $3.93 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Spanish Fort cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $332K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $332K 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 7,427 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Spanish Fort ranks 2nd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
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 Spanish Fort
Does Spanish Fort have a public library?
Yes. Spanish Fort Public Library, 7361 Spanish Fort Blvd, serves Spanish Fort’s 10,656 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 61 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Spanish Fort 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 Spanish Fort’s library?
It logged 4.3 visits and lent 7.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Spanish Fort’s civic life grade?
B Spanish Fort is ahead of 58% of U.S. towns on civic life, #14 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 Spanish Fort.
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.