Photo: Brandonrush · CC BY-SA 3.0Monticello’s library lends 1.1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Southeast Arkansas Regional Library serves 59,331 people in and around Monticello from 2 locations. Last year it lent 99K books, movies and e-books and logged 114K visits.
What stands out about Southeast Arkansas Regional Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Monticello’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Monticello is ahead of 51% of U.S. towns, #45 of 114 in Arkansas. Monticello is graded on two of the three inputs. Monticello’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 →
60 community nonprofits are registered in Monticello
7.3 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 (15 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.0%
5.0% of Monticello’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 Monticello’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 6 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Southeast Arkansas Regional Library serves 59,331 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 5 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Southeast Arkansas Regional Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
99K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
34,000 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
What kids borrow
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
2 places to borrow in Monticello
Southeast Arkansas Regional Library, 114 W. Jefferson, Monticello.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Southeast Arkansas Regional Library branch.
New in Monticello? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other Southeast Arkansas Regional Library branches in Monticello
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.50 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Monticello cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1M 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 23,164 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Southeast Arkansas Regional Library serves 59,331 people in and around Monticello, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Monticello.
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 Monticello
Does Monticello have a public library?
Yes. Southeast Arkansas Regional Library, 114 W. Jefferson, serves 59,331 people in and around Monticello (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Southeast Arkansas Regional 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 Monticello’s library?
It logged 1.9 visits and lent 1.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Monticello’s civic life grade?
B− Monticello is ahead of 51% of U.S. towns on civic life, #45 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 Monticello.
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.