Coolmore Plantation · Photo: Thomas T. Waterman, Photographer · Public domainTarboro’s library logs 1.5 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Edgecombe County Memorial Library serves 48,491 people in and around Tarboro. Last year it lent 39K books, movies and e-books and logged 72K visits.
The short version on Tarboro’s library
Few programs for a library this size
Edgecombe County Memorial Library offered 234 programs last year, 4.8 per 1,000 residents against a typical 14. Kids & programs ↓
Most programs are for young children
74% of the 234 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 1.3 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
84% of the people it serves carry a library card
40,530 cards for 48,491 people, or 84%. At the typical library serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, it’s 39%. 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; Edgecombe County Memorial Library serves 48,491 people in and around Tarboro, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Tarboro’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Tarboro is ahead of 31% of U.S. towns, #103 of 234 in North Carolina. Tarboro is graded on two of the three inputs. Tarboro’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 ($37K–$62K) 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 →
58 community nonprofits are registered in Tarboro
5.4 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 (27 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 3 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
3.0%
3.0% of Tarboro’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 Tarboro’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Edgecombe County Memorial Library serves 48,491 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 7 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Edgecombe County Memorial Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
39K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
5,127 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 3 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
Edgecombe County Memorial Library, 909 Main St., Tarboro.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Edgecombe County Memorial Library branch.
New in Tarboro? 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 $1.12 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Tarboro cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $761K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $849K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $761K 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 40,530 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Edgecombe County Memorial Library serves 48,491 people in and around Tarboro, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Tarboro.
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 Tarboro
Does Tarboro have a public library?
Yes. Edgecombe County Memorial Library, 909 Main St., serves 48,491 people in and around Tarboro (the survey’s count) and is open about 61 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Edgecombe County Memorial 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 Tarboro’s library?
It logged 1.5 visits and lent 0.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Tarboro’s civic life grade?
C Tarboro is ahead of 31% of U.S. towns on civic life, #103 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 Tarboro.
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.