Welcome’s library is a branch of Davidson County Public Library System, which lends less per resident than 75% of systems its size
Welcome’s library is the North Davidson Branch Library, a branch of Davidson County Public Library System, which serves 169,229 people and lent 519K items last year.
What stands out about North Davidson Branch Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Welcome’s civic life grade
Welcome isn’t graded on civic life: it’s unincorporated, so its nonprofits can’t be counted reliably (mailing addresses don’t follow its boundary) and its library is a branch of Davidson County Public Library System, so there is no town figure for visits.
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 →
Volunteering in Welcome
Welcome is unincorporated, so its nonprofits aren’t counted: they file by mailing address, which doesn’t follow its boundary.
3.6%
3.6% of Welcome’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 Welcome’s residents live; 2022.
About 30 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Davidson County Public Library System serves 169,229 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 31 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Davidson County Public Library System system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
519K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
187,667 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
North Davidson Branch Library, 559 Critcher Dr, Welcome.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Davidson County Public Library System branch.
New in Welcome? 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 $1.77 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Welcome cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $4.8M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $8.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $4.8M 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 72,037 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. North Davidson Branch Library is one branch of Davidson County Public Library System, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 169,229 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 Welcome
Does Welcome have a public library?
Yes: North Davidson Branch Library, 559 Critcher Dr, is a branch of Davidson County Public Library System, which serves 169,229 people. The branch is open about 53 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Davidson County Public Library System 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 Welcome’s library?
It logged 1.8 visits and lent 3.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Welcome’s civic life grade?
Welcome isn’t graded on civic life: it’s unincorporated, so its nonprofits can’t be counted reliably (mailing addresses don’t follow its boundary) and its library is a branch of Davidson County Public Library System, so there is no town figure for visits. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Welcome.
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.