Ellsworth and Lovie Ballance House · Photo: Jasonspsyche · CC BY-SA 3.0Hatteras’ library is a branch of East Albemarle Regional Library, which lends more per resident than 50% of systems its size
Hatteras’s library is the Hatteras Branch Library, a branch of East Albemarle Regional Library, which serves 121,569 people and lent 427K items last year.
What stands out about Hatteras Branch Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Hatteras’ civic life grade
Hatteras isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
East Albemarle Regional Library serves 121,569 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 24 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole East Albemarle Regional Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
427K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
42,626 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 21 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
Hatteras Branch Library, 57709 Highway 12, Hatteras.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every East Albemarle Regional Library branch.
New in Hatteras? 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 Hatteras cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $3.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6.9M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3.1M 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 41,280 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Hatteras Branch Library is one branch of East Albemarle Regional Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 121,569 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 Hatteras
Does Hatteras have a public library?
Yes: Hatteras Branch Library, 57709 Highway 12, is a branch of East Albemarle Regional Library, which serves 121,569 people. The branch is open about 29 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is East Albemarle Regional 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 Hatteras’ library?
It logged 1.8 visits and lent 3.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Hatteras’ civic life grade?
Hatteras isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Hatteras.
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.