Trinity Methodist Church · Photo: Nyttend · Public domainElizabethtown’s library logs 1 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Bladen County Public Library serves 29,153 people in and around Elizabethtown. Last year it lent 36K books, movies and e-books and logged 30K visits.
The short version on Elizabethtown’s library
Bladen County Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Bladen County Public Library records 1 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people. Borrowing is 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 ↓
Programs are almost all for children
83% of the 263 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 2.8 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 74% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is lower than at 76% of similar-size libraries, so the high share mostly reflects light borrowing by adults. What people borrow ↓
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; Bladen County Public Library serves 29,153 people in and around Elizabethtown, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Elizabethtown’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Elizabethtown is ahead of 36% of U.S. towns, #82 of 234 in North Carolina. Elizabethtown is graded on two of the three inputs. Elizabethtown’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Among U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($22K–$37K) it does better, ahead of 65%.
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 →
18 community nonprofits are registered in Elizabethtown
5.6 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.
4.0%
4.0% of Elizabethtown’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 Elizabethtown’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Bladen County Public Library serves 29,153 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 6 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Bladen County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
36K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
6,565 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 4 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
Bladen County Public Library, 111 N Cypress St., Elizabethtown.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Bladen County Public Library branch.
New in Elizabethtown? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Elizabethtown cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $677K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $589K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $677K 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 10,246 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Bladen County Public Library serves 29,153 people in and around Elizabethtown, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Elizabethtown.
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 Elizabethtown
Does Elizabethtown have a public library?
Yes. Bladen County Public Library, 111 N Cypress St., serves 29,153 people in and around Elizabethtown (the survey’s count) and is open about 51 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Bladen County Public 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 Elizabethtown’s library?
It logged 1.0 visits and lent 1.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Elizabethtown’s civic life grade?
C+ Elizabethtown is ahead of 36% of U.S. towns on civic life, #82 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 Elizabethtown.
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.