Starkey School · Photo: Molly Cardenas · CC BY-SA 3.0Cave Spring’s library is a branch of Roanoke County Public Library, which lends more per resident than 82% of systems its size
Cave Spring’s library is the South County Library, a branch of Roanoke County Public Library, which serves 96,546 people and lent 914K items last year.
What stands out about South County Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Cave Spring’s civic life grade
Cave Spring 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 Roanoke County Public Library, 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 Cave Spring
Cave Spring is unincorporated, so its nonprofits aren’t counted: they file by mailing address, which doesn’t follow its boundary.
8.6%
8.6% of Cave Spring’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.9% in the typical Virginia 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 Cave Spring’s residents live; 2022.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
914K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
155,986 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Roanoke County Public Library serves 96,546 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 63 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Roanoke County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
About 16 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
South County Library, 6303 Merriman Rd SW, Roanoke.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Roanoke County Public Library branch.
New in Cave Spring? 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 $2.86 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Cave Spring cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $4.9M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $14M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $4.9M budget.
Fine-free. No late fees on books returned late.
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 19,173 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.
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. South County Library is one branch of Roanoke County Public Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 96,546 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 Cave Spring
Does Cave Spring have a public library?
Yes: South County Library, 6303 Merriman Rd SW, is a branch of Roanoke County Public Library, which serves 96,546 people. The branch is open about 54 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Roanoke County Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Cave Spring’s library?
It logged 3.5 visits and lent 9.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Cave Spring’s civic life grade?
Cave Spring 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 Roanoke County Public Library, so there is no town figure for visits. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Cave Spring.
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.