Little Rock to Cantonment Gibson Rd-Fourth Street Segment · Photo: Valis55 · CC BY-SA 3.0Atkins’ library is a branch of Pope County Library System, which lends less per resident than 72% of systems its size
Atkins’s library is the Atkins Branch Centennial Library, a branch of Pope County Library System, which serves 64,829 people and lent 178K items last year.
What stands out about Atkins Branch Centennial Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Atkins’ civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Atkins is ahead of 37% of U.S. towns, #65 of 114 in Arkansas. Atkins is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Atkins’ count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($46K–$77K) 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 →
5 community nonprofits are registered in Atkins
1.7 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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.5%
9.5% of Atkins’ Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.2% in the typical Arkansas 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 Atkins’ residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Pope County Library System serves 64,829 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 20 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Pope County Library System system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
178K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
42,990 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 11 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
Atkins Branch Centennial Library, 215 North East First Street, Atkins.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Pope County Library System branch.
New in Atkins? 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 $1.73 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Atkins cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.6M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.8M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.6M 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 38,020 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Atkins Branch Centennial Library is one branch of Pope County Library System, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 64,829 people it serves.
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 Atkins
Does Atkins have a public library?
Yes: Atkins Branch Centennial Library, 215 North East First Street, is a branch of Pope County Library System, which serves 64,829 people. The branch is open about 44 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Pope County Library System 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 Atkins’ library?
It logged 2.0 visits and lent 2.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Atkins’ civic life grade?
C+ Atkins is ahead of 37% of U.S. towns on civic life, #65 of 114 in Arkansas. 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 Atkins.
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.