Photo: Gerry Dincher from Hope Mills, NC · CC BY-SA 2.0Laurinburg’s library logs 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Scotland County Memorial Library serves 33,567 people in and around Laurinburg. Last year it lent 32K books, movies and e-books and logged 29K visits.
What Laurinburg’s library is like
Scotland County Memorial Library is used less than most libraries its size
Scotland County Memorial Library records 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people. Borrowing is 0.7 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7. It also spends less than most: $12 per resident, against a typical $40. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Scotland County Memorial Library offered 18 programs last year, 0.5 per 1,000 residents against a typical 14. Kids & programs ↓
North Carolina pays a big share
22% of the budget comes from the state, and 76% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Runs on less money than most
Scotland County Memorial Library spends $12 per resident, less than 93% of similar-size libraries (typical: $40). What your card is worth ↓
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; Scotland County Memorial Library serves 33,567 people in and around Laurinburg, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Laurinburg’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Laurinburg is ahead of 29% of U.S. towns, #109 of 234 in North Carolina. Laurinburg is graded on two of the three inputs. Laurinburg’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 ($32K–$53K) 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 →
76 community nonprofits are registered in Laurinburg
5.0 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 (35 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.
3.1%
3.1% of Laurinburg’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 Laurinburg’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Scotland County Memorial Library serves 33,567 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 12 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Scotland County Memorial Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
32K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
7,702 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
18 programs a year
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
Scotland County Memorial Library, 312 W Church St., Laurinburg.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Scotland County Memorial Library branch.
New in Laurinburg? 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 $1.19 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Laurinburg cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $393K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $466K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $393K 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 12,997 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Scotland County Memorial Library serves 33,567 people in and around Laurinburg, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Laurinburg.
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 Laurinburg
Does Laurinburg have a public library?
Yes. Scotland County Memorial Library, 312 W Church St., serves 33,567 people in and around Laurinburg (the survey’s count) and is open about 46 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Scotland County Memorial 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 Laurinburg’s library?
It logged 0.8 visits and lent 0.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Laurinburg’s civic life grade?
C Laurinburg is ahead of 29% of U.S. towns on civic life, #109 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 Laurinburg.
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.