Hickory Municipal Building · Photo: Tylerg · CC BY-SA 3.0Hickory’s library lends 5.3 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Hickory Public Library serves Hickory’s 45,415 residents from 2 locations. Last year it lent 299K books, movies and e-books and logged 134K visits.
What stands out about Hickory’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Hickory’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Hickory is ahead of 33% of U.S. towns, #93 of 234 in North Carolina. Hickory’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($48K–$81K) 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 →
205 community nonprofits are registered in Hickory
4.6 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 (88 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 6 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
4.8%
4.8% of Hickory’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 Hickory’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Hickory Public Library serves 45,415 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 50 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
299K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 130K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.9 times last year, on average.
56,828 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 8 kids’ programs a week
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.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Hickory last year.
3 places to borrow in Hickory
Patrick Beaver Memorial Library, 375 3rd St. NE, Hickory.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Hickory? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Hickory
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.01 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Hickory cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.3M 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 16,192 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hickory | Patrick Beaver Memorial Library fine-free | 6.6 | 58 | C |
| St. Stephens | St. Stephens Branch Library fine-free | — | 50 | — unincorporated |
| Conover | Conover Branch Library fine-free | — | 39 | D− |
| Newton | Catawba County Library fine-free | — | 60 | D |
| Granite Falls | Southern Branch Library fine-free | — | 49 | D− |
| Mountain View | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Long View | None of its own | — | — | D− |
| Brookford | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Northlakes | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
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.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Hickory
Does Hickory have a public library?
Yes. Hickory Public Library, 375 3rd St. NE, serves Hickory’s 45,415 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 58 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Hickory Public Library 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 Hickory’s library?
It logged 2.9 visits and lent 6.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Hickory’s civic life grade?
C Hickory is ahead of 33% of U.S. towns on civic life, #93 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 Hickory.
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.