Photo: Kubigula · Public domainSpruce Pine’s library is a branch of Avery-Mitchell-Yancey Regional Library, which lends less per resident than 74% of systems its size
Spruce Pine’s library is the Spruce Pine Public Library, a branch of Avery-Mitchell-Yancey Regional Library, which serves 50,755 people and lent 135K items last year.
The short version on Spruce Pine’s library
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
39% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 36%. What your card is worth ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 18% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 39% 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; Spruce Pine’s library is a branch of Avery-Mitchell-Yancey Regional Library, so they cover the whole system (50,755 people), not just the Spruce Pine branch.
What’s behind Spruce Pine’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Spruce Pine is ahead of 27% of U.S. towns. Spruce Pine is graded on two of the three inputs. Spruce Pine’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 →
10 community nonprofits are registered in Spruce Pine
4.0 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.2%
5.2% of Spruce Pine’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 Spruce Pine’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 5 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Avery-Mitchell-Yancey Regional Library serves 50,755 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 Avery-Mitchell-Yancey Regional Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
135K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
The survey has no count of children’s loans for Spruce Pine’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
38,479 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Spruce Pine Public Library, 142 Walnut Ave, Spruce Pine.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Avery-Mitchell-Yancey Regional Library branch.
New in Spruce Pine? 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 $2.12 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Spruce Pine cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.1M 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 8,934 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Spruce Pine Public Library is one branch of Avery-Mitchell-Yancey Regional Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 50,755 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 Spruce Pine
Does Spruce Pine have a public library?
Yes: Spruce Pine Public Library, 142 Walnut Ave, is a branch of Avery-Mitchell-Yancey Regional Library, which serves 50,755 people. The branch is open about 45 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Avery-Mitchell-Yancey Regional 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 Spruce Pine’s library?
It logged 3.4 visits and lent 2.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Spruce Pine’s civic life grade?
C Spruce Pine is ahead of 27% 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 Spruce Pine.
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.