Photo: Mojo Hand · CC BY-SA 4.0Black Mountain’s library is a branch of Buncombe County Public Libraries, which lends more per resident than 65% of systems its size
Black Mountain’s library is the Black Mountain Branch Library, a branch of Buncombe County Public Libraries, which serves 277,047 people and lent 2M items last year.
What stands out about Black Mountain Branch Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Black Mountain’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Black Mountain is ahead of 96% of U.S. towns, #3 of 234 in North Carolina. Black Mountain is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups ranks highest.
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 →
49 community nonprofits are registered in Black Mountain
5.7 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 (14 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
14.6%
14.6% of Black Mountain’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 5.2% in the typical North Carolina 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 Black Mountain’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Buncombe County Public Libraries serves 277,047 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 77 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Buncombe County Public Libraries system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
2M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
734,637 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 18 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
Black Mountain Branch Library, 105 Dougherty St., Black Mountain.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Buncombe County Public Libraries branch.
New in Black Mountain? 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 $4.57 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Black Mountain cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $8M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $37M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $8M budget.
Fine-free. No late fees on books returned late.
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 129,302 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.
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.
- System-wide. Black Mountain Branch Library is one branch of Buncombe County Public Libraries, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 277,047 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 Black Mountain
Does Black Mountain have a public library?
Yes: Black Mountain Branch Library, 105 Dougherty St., is a branch of Buncombe County Public Libraries, which serves 277,047 people. The branch is open about 41 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Buncombe County Public Libraries fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Black Mountain’s library?
It logged 2.7 visits and lent 7.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Black Mountain’s civic life grade?
A+ Black Mountain is ahead of 96% of U.S. towns on civic life, #3 of 234 in North Carolina. 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 Black Mountain.
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.