Settlement School Dormitories and Dwellings Historic District · Photo: Brian Stansberry (photographer) · CC BY 3.0Gatlinburg’s library logs 8.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Anna Porter Public Library serves Gatlinburg’s 3,701 residents. Last year it lent 26K books, movies and e-books and logged 31K visits.
What Gatlinburg’s library is like
More library cards than residents
4,979 cards for 3,701 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, it’s 42%. How it compares ↓
People come to Anna Porter Public Library a lot
Anna Porter Public Library logs 8.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, more than 91% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing is above typical too, at 4.1 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
40% of borrowing happens on a screen
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 40% of loans, more per resident than at 87% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 60%. What people borrow ↓
Gatlinburg invests in its library
Anna Porter Public Library spends $90 per resident a year, about twice the typical $43 for a library its size. Almost all of it (95%) comes from local taxes. 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.
What’s behind Gatlinburg’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Gatlinburg is ahead of 69% of U.S. towns, #19 of 150 in Tennessee. Library visits hold 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 →
22 community nonprofits are registered in Gatlinburg
6.0 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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 (10 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 3 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.0%
5.0% of Gatlinburg’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 Gatlinburg’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Anna Porter Public Library serves 3,701 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 10 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
40% of borrowing is digital
26K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 23K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.7 time last year, on average.
10,181 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 1 kids’ program a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Gatlinburg last year.
Find it
Anna Porter Public Library, 159 Mills Park Road, Gatlinburg.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Gatlinburg? 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 $1.27 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Gatlinburg cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $333K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $422K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $333K 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 4,979 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gatlinburg | Anna Porter Public Library | 6.9 | 51 | B+ |
| Pittman Center | None 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).
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Gatlinburg
Does Gatlinburg have a public library?
Yes. Anna Porter Public Library, 159 Mills Park Road, serves Gatlinburg’s 3,701 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 51 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Anna Porter 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 Gatlinburg’s library?
It logged 8.3 visits and lent 6.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Gatlinburg’s civic life grade?
B+ Gatlinburg is ahead of 69% of U.S. towns on civic life, #19 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 Gatlinburg.
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.