Photo: Harrison Keely · CC BY 4.0Brevard’s library lends 8.8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Transylvania County Library serves 33,193 people in and around Brevard. Last year it lent 373K books, movies and e-books and logged 160K visits.
What stands out about Transylvania County Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Brevard’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Brevard is ahead of 82% of U.S. towns, #13 of 234 in North Carolina. Brevard is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Brevard’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
47 community nonprofits are registered in Brevard
5.9 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 (9 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
8.6%
8.6% of Brevard’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 5.2% in the typical North Carolina 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 Brevard’s residents live; 2022.
About 7 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Transylvania County Library serves 33,193 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 112 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Transylvania County Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
373K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
81,529 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Transylvania County Library, 212 S Gaston St., Brevard.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Transylvania County Library branch.
New in Brevard? 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 $3.51 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Brevard cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.7M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $5.8M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.7M 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 18,214 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Transylvania County Library serves 33,193 people in and around Brevard, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Brevard.
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 Brevard
Does Brevard have a public library?
Yes. Transylvania County Library, 212 S Gaston St., serves 33,193 people in and around Brevard (the survey’s count) and is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Transylvania 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 Brevard’s library?
It logged 4.8 visits and lent 11.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Brevard’s civic life grade?
A− Brevard is ahead of 82% of U.S. towns on civic life, #13 of 234 in North Carolina. 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 Brevard.
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.