Roanoke Canal · Photo: JERRYE & ROY KLOTZ, M.D. · CC BY-SA 4.0Roanoke Rapids’ library logs 0.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Roanoke Rapids Public Library serves Roanoke Rapids’s 14,662 residents. Last year it lent 18K books, movies and e-books and logged 13K visits.
What Roanoke Rapids’s library is like
Roanoke Rapids Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Roanoke Rapids Public Library records 0.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people. Borrowing is 1.1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $17 per resident, against a typical $43. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Roanoke Rapids Public Library offered 121 programs last year, 8.3 per 1,000 residents against a typical 24. Kids & programs ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 18% of the people Roanoke Rapids Public Library serves have a library card, against a typical 40% for its size. How it compares ↓
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.
What’s behind Roanoke Rapids’ civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Roanoke Rapids is ahead of 8% of U.S. towns, #193 of 234 in North Carolina. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Roanoke Rapids’ count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Roanoke Rapids Public Library spends $17 per resident, against a typical $43 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($40K–$67K) 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 →
52 community nonprofits are registered in Roanoke Rapids
3.5 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 (16 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
2.4%
2.4% of Roanoke Rapids’ 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 Roanoke Rapids’ residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Roanoke Rapids Public Library serves 14,662 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 9 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
18K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 18K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.9 time last year, on average.
2,495 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 1 kids’ program 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 Roanoke Rapids last year.
Find it
Roanoke Rapids Public Library, 319 Roanoke Ave, Roanoke Rapids.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Roanoke Rapids? 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 $1.16 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Roanoke Rapids cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $250K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $290K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $250K 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 2,686 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roanoke Rapids | Roanoke Rapids Public Library | 1.3 | 38 | D |
| Weldon | Weldon Memorial Library fine-free | 0.8 | 41 | C− |
| South Rosemary | 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 Roanoke Rapids
Does Roanoke Rapids have a public library?
Yes. Roanoke Rapids Public Library, 319 Roanoke Ave, serves Roanoke Rapids’ 14,662 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 38 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Roanoke Rapids 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 Roanoke Rapids’ library?
It logged 0.9 visits and lent 1.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Roanoke Rapids’ civic life grade?
D Roanoke Rapids is ahead of 8% of U.S. towns on civic life, #193 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 Roanoke Rapids.
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.