Science Hill School · Photo: Nyttend · Public domainShelbyville’s library logs 0.3 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Shelby County Library District serves 49,515 people in and around Shelbyville. Last year it lent 154K books, movies and e-books and logged 15K visits.
What Shelbyville’s library is like
Shelby County Library District is used less than most libraries its size
Shelby County Library District records 0.3 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people. Borrowing is 1.4 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7. How it compares ↓
Most of the library’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 55% of loans, more per resident than at 65% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 45%. What people borrow ↓
The branch is a National Register landmark
Carnegie Public Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1985. Today’s library there has 31,000 square feet. The building ↓
Most programs are for young children
65% of the 221 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 1.1 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
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; Shelby County Library District serves 49,515 people in and around Shelbyville, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Shelbyville’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Shelbyville is ahead of 65% of U.S. towns, #28 of 126 in Kentucky. Shelbyville is graded on two of the three inputs. Shelbyville’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 →
103 community nonprofits are registered in Shelbyville
5.8 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 (31 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.
6.9%
6.9% of Shelbyville’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 Shelbyville’s residents live; 2022.
55% of borrowing is digital
154K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
85,094 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 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Shelby County Library District serves 49,515 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 49 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Shelby County Library District system. The library’s own count.
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.
A National Register landmark since 1985
Shelby County Library District, 309 Eighth Street, Shelbyville.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Shelby County Library District branch.
New in Shelbyville? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Carnegie Public Library
Carnegie Public Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Jun 12, 1985. It is significant for its architecture at the local level. Its architecture is described as Roman Revival. It was listed as part of Shelbyville MRA.
The Shelby County Public Library, formerly the Carnegie Public Library, in Shelbyville, Kentucky, United States, is a Carnegie library which was built in 1903. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
More about the building →For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.81 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Shelbyville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.4M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.4M 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 21,524 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Shelby County Library District serves 49,515 people in and around Shelbyville, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Shelbyville.
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 Shelbyville
Does Shelbyville have a public library?
Yes. Shelby County Library District, 309 Eighth Street, serves 49,515 people in and around Shelbyville (the survey’s count) and is open about 43 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Shelby County Library District 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 Shelbyville’s library?
It logged 0.3 visits and lent 3.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Shelbyville’s civic life grade?
B+ Shelbyville is ahead of 65% of U.S. towns on civic life, #28 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 Shelbyville.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.