Photo: Bill Fitzpatrick · CC BY-SA 3.0Newberry’s library logs 0.6 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Newberry County Library System serves 37,719 people in and around Newberry. Last year it lent 64K books, movies and e-books and logged 21K visits.
The short version on Newberry’s library
Newberry County Library System is used less than most libraries its size
Newberry County Library System records 0.6 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: $18 per resident, against a typical $40. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Newberry County Library System offered 63 programs last year, 1.7 per 1,000 residents against a typical 14. Kids & programs ↓
South Carolina pays a big share
21% of the budget comes from the state, and 76% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. 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; Newberry County Library System serves 37,719 people in and around Newberry, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Newberry’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Newberry is ahead of 32% of U.S. towns, #36 of 102 in South Carolina. Newberry is graded on two of the three inputs. Newberry’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 ($38K–$64K) 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 →
60 community nonprofits are registered in Newberry
5.5 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (31 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
3.0%
3.0% of Newberry’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 4.4% in the typical South 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 Newberry’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.
Newberry County Library System serves 37,719 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 20 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Newberry County Library System system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
64K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
19,963 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
63 programs a year
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
Hal Kohn Memorial Library, 1100 Friend Street, Newberry.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Newberry County Library System branch.
New in Newberry? 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 $1.56 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Newberry cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $669K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $669K 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 24,165 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newberry | Hal Kohn Memorial Library | — | 37 | C |
| Helena | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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. Newberry County Library System serves 37,719 people in and around Newberry, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Newberry.
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 Newberry
Does Newberry have a public library?
Yes. Newberry County Library System, 1100 Friend Street, serves 37,719 people in and around Newberry (the survey’s count) and is open about 37 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Newberry County 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 Newberry’s library?
It logged 0.6 visits and lent 1.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Newberry’s civic life grade?
C Newberry is ahead of 32% of U.S. towns on civic life, #36 of 102 in South 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 Newberry.
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.