Photo: Conn, Kit at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Bethany Beach’s library is a branch of Sussex County Dept. of Libraries, which lends more per resident than 60% of systems its size
Bethany Beach’s library is the South Coastal Public Library, a branch of Sussex County Dept. of Libraries, which serves 71,278 people and lent 425K items last year.
What stands out about South Coastal Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Bethany Beach’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Bethany Beach is ahead of 77% of U.S. towns. Bethany Beach is graded on two of the three inputs. Bethany Beach’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 →
9 community nonprofits are registered in Bethany Beach
9.9 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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.9%
6.9% of Bethany Beach’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 5.6% in the typical Delaware 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 Bethany Beach’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Sussex County Dept. of Libraries serves 71,278 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 50 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Sussex County Dept. of Libraries system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
425K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
90,684 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 12 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
South Coastal Public Library, 43 Kent Avenue, Bethany Beach.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Sussex County Dept. of Libraries branch.
New in Bethany Beach? 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 $2.32 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Bethany Beach cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6.9M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3M 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 25,843 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. South Coastal Public Library is one branch of Sussex County Dept. of Libraries, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 71,278 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 Bethany Beach
Does Bethany Beach have a public library?
Yes: South Coastal Public Library, 43 Kent Avenue, is a branch of Sussex County Dept. of Libraries, which serves 71,278 people. The branch is open about 52 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Sussex County Dept. of Libraries 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 Bethany Beach’s library?
It logged 3.2 visits and lent 6.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Bethany Beach’s civic life grade?
A− Bethany Beach is ahead of 77% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Bethany Beach.
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.