Photo: Brandonrush · CC BY-SA 3.0Helena-West Helena’s library logs 0.2 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Phillips Lee Monroe Regional Library System serves 33,054 people in and around Helena-West Helena. Last year it lent 6,668 print books and media and logged 5,186 visits.
What Helena-West Helena’s library is like
Phillips Lee Monroe Regional Library System is used less than most libraries its size
Phillips Lee Monroe Regional Library System records 0.2 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people. Borrowing is 0.2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7. It also spends less than most: $10 per resident, against a typical $40. How it compares ↓
Runs on less money than most
Phillips Lee Monroe Regional Library System spends $10 per resident, less than 96% of similar-size libraries (typical: $40). 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; Phillips Lee Monroe Regional Library System serves 33,054 people in and around Helena-West Helena, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Helena-West Helena’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Helena-West Helena is ahead of 26% of U.S. towns, #81 of 114 in Arkansas. Helena-West Helena is graded on two of the three inputs. Helena-West Helena’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($27K–$45K) 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 →
44 community nonprofits are registered in Helena-West Helena
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 (17 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
1.4%
1.4% of Helena-West Helena’s 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 Helena-West Helena’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 5 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Phillips Lee Monroe Regional Library System serves 33,054 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
A year at Phillips Lee Monroe Regional Library System
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Phillips Lee Monroe Regional Library System system. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
6,668 print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
What kids borrow
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Find it
Phillips Lee Monroe Regional Library System, 702 Porter Street, Helena.
No late fees. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Good at every Phillips Lee Monroe Regional Library System branch.
New in Helena-West Helena? 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 Helena-West Helena cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $327K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $116K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $327K 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 14,339 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Digital loans not reported. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
- System-wide. Phillips Lee Monroe Regional Library System serves 33,054 people in and around Helena-West Helena, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Helena-West Helena.
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 Helena-West Helena
Does Helena-West Helena have a public library?
Yes. Phillips Lee Monroe Regional Library System, 702 Porter Street, serves 33,054 people in and around Helena-West Helena (the survey’s count) and is open about 37 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Phillips Lee Monroe Regional Library System fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Helena-West Helena’s library?
It logged 0.2 visits and lent 0.2 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Helena-West Helena’s civic life grade?
C Helena-West Helena is ahead of 26% of U.S. towns on civic life, #81 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 Helena-West Helena.
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.