Azle’s library lends 13 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Azle Memorial Library serves Azle’s 18,013 residents. Last year it lent 267K books, movies and e-books and logged 95K visits.
What Azle’s library is like
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 57% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 97% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 35 items per child in Azle last year. Kids & programs ↓
Azle is a town of borrowers
Azle Memorial Library lends 13 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, more than 95% of similar-size libraries. Each item on the shelves went out about 3.8 times last year. What people borrow ↓
83% of Azle carry a library card
14,966 cards for 18,013 people, or 83%. At the typical library serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, it’s 40%. 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.
What’s behind Azle’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Azle is ahead of 48% of U.S. towns, #145 of 539 in Texas. Azle is graded on two of the three inputs. Azle’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
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 →
55 community nonprofits are registered in Azle
3.9 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (25 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.4%
7.4% of Azle’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 5.7% in the typical Texas 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 Azle’s residents live; 2022.
About 2 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Azle last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Azle Memorial Library serves 18,013 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 116 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
267K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 61K books and other items on the shelves went out about 3.8 times last year, on average.
37,035 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Azle Memorial Library, 333 W Main St., Azle.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Azle? 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 $4.14 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Azle cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $943K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3.9M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $943K 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 14,966 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Azle | Azle Memorial Library | 14.8 | 44 | B− |
| Briar | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Fort Worth | None of its own | — | — | D |
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.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Azle
Does Azle have a public library?
Yes. Azle Memorial Library, 333 W Main St., serves Azle’s 18,013 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 44 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Azle 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 Azle’s library?
It logged 5.3 visits and lent 14.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Azle’s civic life grade?
B− Azle is ahead of 48% of U.S. towns on civic life, #145 of 539 in Texas. 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 Azle.
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.