Photo: Tim Kiser (w:User:Malepheasant) · CC BY-SA 2.5Elizabeth’s library runs 72 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Dora Bee Woodyard Memorial Library serves 5,194 people in and around Elizabeth. Last year it lent 9,678 books, movies and e-books and logged 18K visits.
What’s behind Elizabeth’s civic life grade
Elizabeth isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Dora Bee Woodyard Memorial Library serves 5,194 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 4 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Dora Bee Woodyard Memorial Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
9,678 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
The survey has no count of children’s loans for Elizabeth’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
3,183 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
372 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
Dora Bee Woodyard Memorial Library, 411 Mulberry St., Elizabeth.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Good at every Dora Bee Woodyard Memorial Library branch.
New in Elizabeth? 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 $1.19 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Elizabeth cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $161K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $191K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $161K 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 2,239 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Dora Bee Woodyard Memorial Library serves 5,194 people in and around Elizabeth, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Elizabeth.
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 Elizabeth
Does Elizabeth have a public library?
Yes. Dora Bee Woodyard Memorial Library, 411 Mulberry St., serves 5,194 people in and around Elizabeth (the survey’s count) and is open about 46 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Dora Bee Woodyard 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 Elizabeth’s library?
It logged 3.5 visits and lent 1.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Elizabeth’s civic life grade?
Elizabeth isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Elizabeth.
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.