Rockmart Downtown Historic District · Photo: Ecto1699 · CC BY-SA 4.0Rockmart’s library is a branch of Sara Hightower Regional Library System, which lends less per resident than 76% of systems its size
Rockmart’s library is the Rockmart Library, a branch of Sara Hightower Regional Library System, which serves 170,341 people and lent 418K items last year.
What stands out about Rockmart Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Rockmart’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Rockmart is ahead of 8% of U.S. towns, #174 of 222 in Georgia. Rockmart is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the middle.
Sara Hightower Regional Library System spends $17 per resident, against a typical $36 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($43K–$71K) 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 →
9 community nonprofits are registered in Rockmart
1.8 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 (5 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.7%
5.7% of Rockmart’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 Rockmart’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Sara Hightower Regional Library System serves 170,341 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 32 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Sara Hightower Regional Library System system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
418K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
88,326 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 14 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
Rockmart Library, 316 North Piedmont Avenue, Rockmart.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Sara Hightower Regional Library System branch.
New in Rockmart? 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 $2.28 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Rockmart cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $2.8M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6.5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.8M 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 57,401 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Rockmart Library is one branch of Sara Hightower Regional Library System, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 170,341 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 Rockmart
Does Rockmart have a public library?
Yes: Rockmart Library, 316 North Piedmont Avenue, is a branch of Sara Hightower Regional Library System, which serves 170,341 people. The branch is open about 49 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Sara Hightower 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 Rockmart’s library?
It logged 1.9 visits and lent 2.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Rockmart’s civic life grade?
D Rockmart is ahead of 8% of U.S. towns on civic life, #174 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 Rockmart.
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.