Titan II ICBM Launch Complex 373-5 Site · Photo: Valis55 · CC BY-SA 3.0Searcy’s library is a branch of White County Regional Library System, which lends less per resident than 57% of systems its size
Searcy’s library is the Janet & Larry Crain Memorial Library, a branch of White County Regional Library System, which serves 79,091 people and lent 410K items last year.
What stands out about Janet & Larry Crain Memorial Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Searcy’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Searcy is ahead of 63% of U.S. towns, #28 of 114 in Arkansas. Searcy is graded on two of the three inputs. Searcy’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 →
134 community nonprofits are registered in Searcy
5.7 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 (41 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 7 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.9%
6.9% of Searcy’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 Searcy’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
White County Regional Library System serves 79,091 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
A year at White County Regional Library System
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole White County Regional Library System system. The library’s own count.
Not reported for 2024: hours open. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
410K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
160,077 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 17 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.
2 places to borrow in Searcy
Janet & Larry Crain Memorial Library, 1609 West Beebe Capps Expressway, Searcy.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every White County Regional Library System branch.
New in Searcy? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other White County Regional Library System branches in Searcy
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $3.45 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Searcy cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.9M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.9M 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 32,528 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.
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.
- Not reported for 2024: hours open. The survey filled the figure with its own estimate, so it is left out.
- System-wide. Janet & Larry Crain Memorial Library is one branch of White County Regional Library System, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 79,091 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 Searcy
Does Searcy have a public library?
Yes: Janet & Larry Crain Memorial Library, 1609 West Beebe Capps Expressway, is a branch of White County Regional Library System, which serves 79,091 people. The branch is open about 49 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is White County Regional 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 Searcy’s library?
It logged 2.5 visits and lent 5.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Searcy’s civic life grade?
B Searcy is ahead of 63% of U.S. towns on civic life, #28 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 Searcy.
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.