Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0Carthage’s library logs 0.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Smith County Public Library serves 20,538 people in and around Carthage. Last year it lent 28K books, movies and e-books and logged 6,440 visits.
What Carthage’s library is like
Smith County Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Smith County Public Library records 0.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people. Borrowing is 0.8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $8 per resident, against a typical $43. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Smith County Public Library offered 37 programs last year, 1.8 per 1,000 residents against a typical 24. Kids & programs ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 16% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 40% for its size. How it compares ↓
Runs on less money than most
Smith County Public Library spends $8 per resident, less than 98% of similar-size libraries (typical: $43). What your card is worth ↓
43% of borrowing happens on a screen
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 43% 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; Smith County Public Library serves 20,538 people in and around Carthage, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Carthage’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Carthage is ahead of 53% of U.S. towns. Carthage is graded on two of the three inputs. Carthage’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 →
13 community nonprofits are registered in Carthage
5.7 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.0%
6.0% of Carthage’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 Carthage’s residents live; 2022.
43% of borrowing is digital
28K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
12,101 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Smith County Public Library serves 20,538 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 9 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Smith County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
37 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
Smith County Public Library, 215 North Main Street, Carthage.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Smith County Public Library branch.
New in Carthage? 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 $3.02 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Carthage cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $157K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $475K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $157K 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 3,231 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Smith County Public Library serves 20,538 people in and around Carthage, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Carthage.
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 Carthage
Does Carthage have a public library?
Yes. Smith County Public Library, 215 North Main Street, serves 20,538 people in and around Carthage (the survey’s count) and is open about 32 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Smith County 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 Carthage’s library?
It logged 0.3 visits and lent 1.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Carthage’s civic life grade?
B− Carthage is ahead of 53% 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 Carthage.
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.