Calgary Public Library lends 12.7 items per person served, more than 82% of Alberta’s town libraries
The library figures on this page are Calgary’s: Calgary Public Library serves all 1,285,711 people of the city, South Calgary among them. Visits ran to 3.8 per person served in 2022. 2022 is the latest year in Alberta’s open library statistics, so the figures date from then.
BCivic life#85 of 474 in AlbertaBehind South Calgary’s civic life grade
Civic life in South Calgary grades B: #85 of the 474 towns graded in Alberta. South Calgary has every input a civic life grade uses: library visits per resident, charities per 1,000 residents and the province’s volunteering rate.
Informal groups and mutual aid go uncounted.
Sources: provincial statistics, the CRA, Statistics Canada.
1,993 registered charities give a Calgary mailing address
There is no count for South Calgary on its own: the charities are those of all of Calgary. Per 1,000 residents that makes 1.2; the median is 1.3 for Alberta towns and 1.4 for Canada’s. The CRA files each charity under its mailing address, so a service town collects its region’s charities and a suburb or rural municipality few.
37.1%
The 2023 survey gives Alberta one volunteering rate for all its towns, 37.1% (between 35.1% and 39.2%), while provinces run from 25.2% at the low end to 40.3%.
Statistics Canada, table 45-10-0039.
Ahead of most of Alberta’s town libraries on all 3 measures
Measured per person served against the 118 town libraries of Alberta’s 2022 statistics.
Town libraries only; regional systems left out.
Some 13,450 visits on an average day
Everything counted at Calgary Public Library in 2022: visits, loans and cards.
South Calgary’s public library
Sorted by straight-line distance from the centre of South Calgary.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Library locations. Two sources make the map, OpenStreetMap and a 2020 Statistics Canada list, with academic and private libraries dropped.
Questions about the library and civic life in South Calgary
Does South Calgary have a public library?
Yes: Calgary Public Library - Giuffre Family.
How busy is Calgary Public Library?
The 2022 totals: 4,909,275 in-person visits, 16,347,892 loans.
Library statistics: Alberta public library statistics, 2022. Library locations: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) and Statistics Canada, Open Database of Cultural and Art Facilities (2020). Charities: Canada Revenue Agency, List of charities (2024), charitable organizations only.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).