Photo: Thomas R Machnitzki ([email protected]) · CC BY 3.0Brownsville’s library logs 1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Elma Ross Public Library serves 17,328 people in and around Brownsville. Last year it lent 18K books, movies and e-books and logged 18K visits.
The short version on Brownsville’s library
Elma Ross Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Elma Ross Public Library records 1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people. Borrowing is 0.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $11 per resident, against a typical $43. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Elma Ross Public Library offered 41 programs last year, 2.4 per 1,000 residents against a typical 24. Kids & programs ↓
Runs on less money than most
Elma Ross Public Library spends $11 per resident, less than 95% of similar-size libraries (typical: $43). What your card is worth ↓
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; Elma Ross Public Library serves 17,328 people in and around Brownsville, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Brownsville’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Brownsville is ahead of 34% of U.S. towns, #68 of 150 in Tennessee. Brownsville is graded on two of the three inputs. Brownsville’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($33K–$54K) 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 →
47 community nonprofits are registered in Brownsville
4.9 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 (15 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
4.8%
4.8% of Brownsville’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.7% in the typical Tennessee 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 Brownsville’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.
Elma Ross Public Library serves 17,328 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 8 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Elma Ross Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
18K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
6,953 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
41 programs a year
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
Elma Ross Public Library, 1011 E. Main Street, Brownsville.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Elma Ross Public Library branch.
New in Brownsville? 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 $1.76 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Brownsville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $193K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $340K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $193K 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 7,391 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Elma Ross Public Library serves 17,328 people in and around Brownsville, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Brownsville.
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 Brownsville
Does Brownsville have a public library?
Yes. Elma Ross Public Library, 1011 E. Main Street, serves 17,328 people in and around Brownsville (the survey’s count) and is open about 45 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Elma Ross Public 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 Brownsville’s library?
It logged 1.0 visits and lent 1.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Brownsville’s civic life grade?
C Brownsville is ahead of 34% of U.S. towns on civic life, #68 of 150 in Tennessee. 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 Brownsville.
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.