Ivy Green · Photo: Jennifer Lee from Alabama, United States · CC BY 2.0Tuscumbia’s library logs 1.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Tuscumbia - Helen Keller Public Library serves Tuscumbia’s 13,306 residents. Last year it lent 23K books, movies and e-books and logged 18K visits.
What Tuscumbia’s library is like
Tuscumbia - Helen Keller Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Tuscumbia - Helen Keller Public Library records 1.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people. Borrowing is 1.5 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $14 per resident, against a typical $43. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Tuscumbia - Helen Keller Public Library offered 113 programs last year, 8.5 per 1,000 residents against a typical 24. Kids & programs ↓
Runs on less money than most
Tuscumbia - Helen Keller Public Library spends $14 per resident, less than 90% of similar-size libraries (typical: $43). 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.
What’s behind Tuscumbia’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Tuscumbia is ahead of 12% of U.S. towns, #110 of 156 in Alabama. Tuscumbia is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Tuscumbia’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Tuscumbia - Helen Keller Public Library spends $14 per resident, against a typical $43 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($44K–$74K) 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 →
25 community nonprofits are registered in Tuscumbia
2.8 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 (6 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
4.8%
4.8% of Tuscumbia’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 Tuscumbia’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Tuscumbia - Helen Keller Public Library serves 13,306 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 12 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
23K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 18K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.1 time last year, on average.
2,678 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 1 kids’ program 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 Tuscumbia last year.
Find it
Tuscumbia - Helen Keller Public Library, 511 North Main Street, Tuscumbia.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Tuscumbia? 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 $2.15 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Tuscumbia cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $189K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $407K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $189K 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 6,306 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Muscle Shoals | Muscle Shoals Public Library | 9.4 | 44 | C− |
| Tuscumbia | Tuscumbia - Helen Keller Public Library | 1.7 | 35 | D |
| Sheffield | Sheffield Public Library | — | 35 | 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 Tuscumbia
Does Tuscumbia have a public library?
Yes. Tuscumbia - Helen Keller Public Library, 511 North Main Street, serves Tuscumbia’s 13,306 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 35 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Tuscumbia - Helen Keller 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 Tuscumbia’s library?
It logged 1.4 visits and lent 1.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Tuscumbia’s civic life grade?
D Tuscumbia is ahead of 12% of U.S. towns on civic life, #110 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 Tuscumbia.
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.