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Summersville Branch · part of Texas County Library

Carroll Township’s library is a branch of Texas County Library, which lends less per resident than 94% of systems its size

Carroll Township’s library is the Summersville Branch, a branch of Texas County Library, which serves 24,487 people and lent 36K items last year.

480 First St., Summersville 65571 · about 39 hours a week
B−Civic lifeAhead of 52% of U.S. towns. Nonprofits and volunteering.
Borrowed a year
36K
1.5 per resident
Visits a year
36K
1.5 per resident · Below typical (3.1)
Programs & events
408
about 8 a week · 4,126 attended
Cardholders
30%
7,439 cards
Open
39 hrs
a week at this branch
In brief

The short version on Carroll Township’s library

Programs are almost all for children

100% of the 408 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 3.8 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓

Below typical on every measure

Against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, the Texas County Library system sits below the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on four. How it compares ↓

47% of borrowing happens on a screen

E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 47% of loans. That’s partly because print borrowing is low: digital loans per resident are below typical too. What people borrow ↓

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; Carroll Township’s library is a branch of Texas County Library, so they cover the whole system (24,487 people), not just the Carroll Township branch.

Civic life grade

What’s behind Carroll Township’s civic life grade

On community nonprofits and volunteering, Carroll Township is ahead of 52% of U.S. towns. Carroll Township is graded on two of the three inputs. Carroll Township’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.

B−
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Carroll Township’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 52%
FewerMore
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $47K–$78K (8,161)Ahead of 49%

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.

How sure. Graded on two inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. Carroll Township is small (1,075 residents), so a few dozen organizations or visits move its per-resident figures; the volunteering share is a 2022 estimate from Facebook users aged 25–44.

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 →

Places to belong

5 community nonprofits are registered in Carroll Township

5.5 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture00.53 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation00.00 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans00.53 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services21.59 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education11.06 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.43
Health00.53 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.16
Environment & animals00.00 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.17
Other11.06 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.47

Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (5 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.

Volunteering

6.2%

6.2% of Carroll Township’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 9.3% in the typical Missouri 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 Carroll Township’s residents live; 2022.

★ What stands out · What people borrow

47% of borrowing is digital

36K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.

36Kloans
Books & media (adults) 38%Kids’ books & media 15%E-books, audio & streaming 47%
From your couch

17,033 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.

How it compares

Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 1.5 visits · typical 3.1Lower than 79%
Borrowing per resident 0.8 print items · typical 3.9Bottom 10%
Digital borrowing 0.7 e-items · typical 1.1Lower than 66%
Kids’ borrowing 0.2 kids’ items · typical 1.8Bottom 10%
Program attendance 0.2 attendees · typical 0.4Lower than 84%
Programs offered 16.7 per 1,000 residents · typical 24Lower than 67%
Cardholders 30% of residents · typical 40%Lower than 68%
Spending $15 per resident · typical $43Lower than 89%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

Texas County Library serves 24,487 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.

A year at the library

Every hour the doors are open, about 4 items go out

Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Texas County Library system. The library’s own count.

36K
visits
1.5 per resident
36K
loans, print + digital
1.5 per resident
408
programs & events
4,126 attended
7,439
library cards
30% of people served
Every open hour4items borrowed
Every week79people at a program
Every day38Wi-Fi sessions
6 staff (full-time equivalent)54 public computers
Kids & programs

About 8 kids’ programs a week

Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.

Schools in Carroll Township →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–5195
Ages 6–11211
Teens0
Adults2
All ages0
Little ones
3.8

story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.

5,303
kids’ books & media borrowed
4,126
people at programs
408
programs
The building

Find it

Summersville Branch, 480 First St., Summersville.

39
hours open a week
1,200
square feet
With a card

E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Texas County Library branch.

New in Carroll Township? The Handbook →

Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.

What your card is worth

For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.73 worth

Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Carroll Township cardholder borrows.

In a month I’d use…
Books$17 each
1
Kids’ books$12 each
0
E-books & audio$15 each
0
Movies & music$4 each
0
Programs & classes$10 a program
0
Computer & Wi-Fi$3 a session
0
Your card saves you about
$204
a year at retail prices · $17 a month

Who pays for it
$15 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $370K.

Local taxes 66%State 13%Gifts & other 21%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $639K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $370K 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 7,439 cardholders ÷ 12.

Next door

Libraries next door

Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.

12+ loans per resident8–124–8Under 4No library / shared system
TownLibraryLoans per residentHoursCivic life
Carroll TownshipSummersville Branch—39B−
Current TownshipNone of its own——— under 1,000 residents
Date TownshipNone of its own——— under 1,000 residents
Ozark TownshipNone of its own——— under 1,000 residents

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).

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.

  • System-wide. Summersville Branch is one branch of Texas County Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 24,487 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 Carroll Township

Does Carroll Township have a public library?

Yes: Summersville Branch, 480 First St., is a branch of Texas County Library, which serves 24,487 people. The branch is open about 39 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Texas County 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 Carroll Township’s library?

It logged 1.5 visits and lent 1.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.

What is Carroll Township’s civic life grade?

B− Carroll Township is ahead of 52% 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 Carroll Township.

Town Square →
Start a conversation

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.