Eagle Nest · Photo: Tradewinds · CC BY-SA 3.0Richlands’ library is a branch of Onslow County Public Library, which lends less per resident than 72% of systems its size
Richlands’s library is the Richlands Public Library, a branch of Onslow County Public Library, which serves 213,447 people and lent 594K items last year.
What stands out about Richlands Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Richlands’ civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Richlands is ahead of 20% of U.S. towns. Richlands is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the middle.
Onslow County Public Library spends $13 per resident, against a typical $36 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($49K–$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 →
4 community nonprofits are registered in Richlands
1.9 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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.3%
7.3% of Richlands’ 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 Richlands’ residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Onslow County Public Library serves 213,447 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 51 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Onslow County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
594K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
153,420 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 13 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
Richlands Public Library, 299 S Wilmington St., Richlands.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Onslow County Public Library branch.
New in Richlands? 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 $3.40 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Richlands cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $2.7M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $9.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.7M 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 55,553 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Richlands Public Library is one branch of Onslow County Public Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 213,447 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 Richlands
Does Richlands have a public library?
Yes: Richlands Public Library, 299 S Wilmington St., is a branch of Onslow County Public Library, which serves 213,447 people. The branch is open about 51 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Onslow 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 Richlands’ library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 2.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Richlands’ civic life grade?
C− Richlands is ahead of 20% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Richlands.
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.