Brooks House · Photo: Nyttend · Public domainMiddlesborough’s library lends 1.1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Bell County Public Library System serves 23,317 people in and around Middlesborough. Last year it lent 39K books, movies and e-books and logged 27K visits.
What stands out about Bell County Public Library System
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Middlesborough’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Middlesborough is ahead of 5% of U.S. towns, #124 of 126 in Kentucky. Middlesborough is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Middlesborough’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($23K–$39K) 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 →
22 community nonprofits are registered in Middlesborough
2.4 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 (8 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
3.0%
3.0% of Middlesborough’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.6% in the typical Kentucky 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 Middlesborough’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Bell County Public Library System serves 23,317 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 7 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Bell County Public Library System system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
39K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
14,545 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 4 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
Bell County Public Library System, 126 South 20th Street, Middlesboro.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Bell County Public Library System branch.
New in Middlesborough? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Middlesborough cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $732K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $711K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $732K 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 14,433 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Bell County Public Library System serves 23,317 people in and around Middlesborough, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Middlesborough.
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 Middlesborough
Does Middlesborough have a public library?
Yes. Bell County Public Library System, 126 South 20th Street, serves 23,317 people in and around Middlesborough (the survey’s count) and is open about 51 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Bell County Public 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 Middlesborough’s library?
It logged 1.1 visits and lent 1.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Middlesborough’s civic life grade?
D− Middlesborough is ahead of 5% of U.S. towns on civic life, #124 of 126 in Kentucky. 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 Middlesborough.
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.