Photo: Gerry Dincher from Hope Mills, NC · CC BY-SA 2.0Southern Pines’ library lends 7.8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Southern Pines Public Library serves Southern Pines’s 16,896 residents. Last year it lent 191K books, movies and e-books and logged 71K visits.
The short version on Southern Pines’s library
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 62% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 89% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 24 items per child in Southern Pines last year. Kids & programs ↓
Most programs are for young children
79% of the 603 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 5.6 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3.5 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.1, higher than at 92% of similar-size libraries. It’s 31% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
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 Southern Pines’ civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Southern Pines is ahead of 49% of U.S. towns, #44 of 234 in North Carolina. Library visits hold the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
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 →
70 community nonprofits are registered in Southern Pines
4.3 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 (22 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.
6.1%
6.1% of Southern Pines’ 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 Southern Pines’ residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Southern Pines Public Library serves 16,896 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 77 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
191K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 58K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.3 times last year, on average.
59,112 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 9 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 Southern Pines last year.
Find it
Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W Connecticut Ave, Southern Pines.
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 Southern Pines? 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 $2.80 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Southern Pines cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.9M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1M 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 7,550 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southern Pines | Southern Pines Public Library fine-free | 11.3 | 49 | B− |
| Pinehurst | Given Memorial Library & Tufts Archive | 2.6 | 43 | C+ |
| Aberdeen | Page Memorial Library fine-free | — | 20 | C+ |
| Carthage | Moore County Library fine-free | — | 51 | C+ |
| Whispering Pines | None of its own | — | — | B− |
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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Southern Pines Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Southern Pines
Does Southern Pines have a public library?
Yes. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W Connecticut Ave, serves Southern Pines’ 16,896 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 49 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Southern Pines 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 Southern Pines’ library?
It logged 4.2 visits and lent 11.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Southern Pines’ civic life grade?
B− Southern Pines is ahead of 49% of U.S. towns on civic life, #44 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 Southern Pines.
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.