Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Herrin’s library runs 6.6 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Herrin City Library serves Herrin’s 12,352 residents. Last year it lent 34K print books and media and logged 30K visits.
What’s behind Herrin’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Herrin is ahead of 21% of U.S. towns, #578 of 754 in Illinois. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the middle.
Herrin’s 2024 visits are an estimate from one typical week (the survey’s method for libraries that don’t count every visit).
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($45K–$75K) 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 →
30 community nonprofits are registered in Herrin
2.5 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 (11 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.7%
6.7% of Herrin’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.1% in the typical Illinois 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 Herrin’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 6 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Herrin City Library serves 12,352 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 14 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
34K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
The survey has no count of children’s loans for Herrin’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
Each of the 45K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.7 time last year, on average.
81 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, 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
Herrin City Library, 120 North 13th Street, Herrin.
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 $1.87 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Herrin cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $337K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $631K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $337K 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 5,610 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.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Herrin | Herrin City Library | 2.7 | 47 | C− |
| Carterville | Anne West Lindsey District Library | — | 45 | A |
| Energy | None of its own | — | — | — graded with its twin city |
| Crainville | None of its own | — | — | C |
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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Herrin City Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
- Digital loans not reported. Illinois libraries often don’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
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 Herrin
Does Herrin have a public library?
Yes. Herrin City Library, 120 North 13th Street, serves Herrin’s 12,352 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 47 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Herrin City Library fine-free?
It charges late fines on some overdue items (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Herrin’s library?
It logged 2.4 visits and lent 2.7 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Herrin’s civic life grade?
C− Herrin is ahead of 21% of U.S. towns on civic life, #578 of 754 in Illinois. 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 Herrin.
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.