Photo: Quentin Melson · CC BY-SA 4.0Nashville’s library lends 5.5 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Brown County Public Library serves 15,475 people in and around Nashville. Last year it lent 122K books, movies and e-books and logged 62K visits.
What stands out about Brown County Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Nashville’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Nashville is among the top 1% of U.S. towns. Nashville is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs put Nashville near the top nationally; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups ranks highest.
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 →
11 community nonprofits are registered in Nashville
8.0 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
20.2%
20.2% of Nashville’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 9.1% in the typical Indiana 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 Nashville’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Brown County Public Library serves 15,475 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 38 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Brown County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
122K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
36,495 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 3 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
Brown County Public Library, 205 Locust Lane, Nashville.
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 Brown County Public Library branch.
New in Nashville? 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 $2.94 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Nashville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $655K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.9M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $655K 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 5,443 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nashville | Brown County Public Library fine-free | — | 53 | A+ |
| Washington Township | Brown County Public Library fine-free | — | 53 | A+ |
| Jackson Township | None of its own | — | — | A |
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. Brown County Public Library serves 15,475 people in and around Nashville, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Nashville.
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 Nashville
Does Nashville have a public library?
Yes. Brown County Public Library, 205 Locust Lane, serves 15,475 people in and around Nashville (the survey’s count) and is open about 53 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Brown 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 Nashville’s library?
It logged 4.0 visits and lent 7.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Nashville’s civic life grade?
A+ Nashville is among the top 1% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Nashville.
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.