Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Spindale’s library runs 22 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Rutherford County Library serves 64,692 people in and around Spindale. Last year it lent 143K books, movies and e-books and logged 46K visits.
What Spindale’s library is like
Rutherford County Library is used less than most libraries its size
Rutherford County Library records 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people. Borrowing is 1.2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7. It also spends less than most: $13 per resident, against a typical $40. How it compares ↓
46% of borrowing happens on a screen
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 46% of loans. That’s partly because print borrowing is low: digital loans per resident are below typical too. What people borrow ↓
Runs on less money than most
Rutherford County Library spends $13 per resident, less than 91% 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; Rutherford County Library serves 64,692 people in and around Spindale, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Spindale’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Spindale is ahead of 33% of U.S. towns, #94 of 234 in North Carolina. Spindale is graded on two of the three inputs. Spindale’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 ($31K–$52K) 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 →
20 community nonprofits are registered in Spindale
4.9 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 (8 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
4.5%
4.5% of Spindale’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 Spindale’s residents live; 2022.
46% of borrowing is digital
143K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
65,676 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Rutherford County Library serves 64,692 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 21 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Rutherford County Library system. The library’s own count.
About 14 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
Rutherford County Library, 255 Callahan Koon Rd, Spindale.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Rutherford County Library branch.
New in Spindale? 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 $2.76 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Spindale cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $854K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $854K 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 27,019 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spindale | Rutherford County Library | — | 47 | C |
| Rutherfordton | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Forest City | None of its own | — | — | C− |
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.
- System-wide. Rutherford County Library serves 64,692 people in and around Spindale, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Spindale.
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 Spindale
Does Spindale have a public library?
Yes. Rutherford County Library, 255 Callahan Koon Rd, serves 64,692 people in and around Spindale (the survey’s count) and is open about 47 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Rutherford County 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 Spindale’s library?
It logged 0.7 visits and lent 2.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Spindale’s civic life grade?
C Spindale is ahead of 33% of U.S. towns on civic life, #94 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 Spindale.
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.