Sherrill's Inn · Photo: Bill Fitzpatrick · CC BY-SA 3.0Fairview’s library is a branch of Buncombe County Public Libraries, which lends more per resident than 65% of systems its size
Fairview’s library is the Fairview Branch Library, a branch of Buncombe County Public Libraries, which serves 277,047 people and lent 2M items last year.
What stands out about Fairview Branch Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Fairview’s civic life grade
Fairview isn’t graded on civic life: it’s unincorporated, so its nonprofits can’t be counted reliably (mailing addresses don’t follow its boundary) and its library is a branch of Buncombe County Public Libraries, so there is no town figure for visits.
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 →
Volunteering in Fairview
Fairview is unincorporated, so its nonprofits aren’t counted: they file by mailing address, which doesn’t follow its boundary.
12.3%
12.3% of Fairview’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 Fairview’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
Fairview Branch Library, 1 Taylor Rd, Fairview.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Buncombe County Public Libraries branch.
New in Fairview? 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 Fairview 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.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Fairview 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 Fairview
Does Fairview have a public library?
Yes: Fairview Branch Library, 1 Taylor Rd, 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 Fairview’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 Fairview’s civic life grade?
Fairview isn’t graded on civic life: it’s unincorporated, so its nonprofits can’t be counted reliably (mailing addresses don’t follow its boundary) and its library is a branch of Buncombe County Public Libraries, so there is no town figure for visits. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Fairview.
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.