Photo: Michael Rivera · CC BY-SA 3.0Cairo’s library lends 1.1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Roddenbery Memorial Library serves 26,183 people in and around Cairo. Last year it lent 37K books, movies and e-books and logged 31K visits.
The short version on Cairo’s library
Roddenbery Memorial Library is used less than most libraries its size
Roddenbery Memorial Library records 1.2 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people. Borrowing is 1.1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7. It also spends less than most: $23 per resident, against a typical $40. How it compares ↓
Georgia pays a big share
29% of the budget comes from the state, and 61% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. 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; Roddenbery Memorial Library serves 26,183 people in and around Cairo, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Cairo’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Cairo is ahead of 23% of U.S. towns, #88 of 222 in Georgia. Cairo is graded on two of the three inputs. Cairo’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Roddenbery Memorial Library spends $23 per resident, against a typical $40 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($31K–$51K) 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 →
42 community nonprofits are registered in Cairo
4.2 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 (32 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
3.8%
3.8% of Cairo’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 4.9% in the typical Georgia 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 Cairo’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Roddenbery Memorial Library serves 26,183 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 18 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Roddenbery Memorial Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
37K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
8,587 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 3 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
Roddenbery Memorial Library, 320 North Broad Street, Cairo.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Roddenbery Memorial Library branch.
New in Cairo? 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 $1.15 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Cairo cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $591K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $682K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $591K 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 7,324 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Roddenbery Memorial Library serves 26,183 people in and around Cairo, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Cairo.
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 Cairo
Does Cairo have a public library?
Yes. Roddenbery Memorial Library, 320 North Broad Street, serves 26,183 people in and around Cairo (the survey’s count) and is open about 39 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Roddenbery Memorial 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 Cairo’s library?
It logged 1.2 visits and lent 1.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Cairo’s civic life grade?
C− Cairo is ahead of 23% of U.S. towns on civic life, #88 of 222 in Georgia. 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 Cairo.
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.