Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Gleason’s library logs 0.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Gleason Memorial Library serves Gleason’s 1,359 residents. Last year it lent 1,774 books, movies and e-books and logged 603 visits.
What Gleason’s library is like
Gleason Memorial Library is used less than most libraries its size
Gleason Memorial Library records 0.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Borrowing is 0.2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $16 per resident, against a typical $54. How it compares ↓
Most of Gleason’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 84% of loans. Print still makes up 16%. What people borrow ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Gleason Memorial Library offered 4 programs last year, 2.9 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
A small-town library
Gleason Memorial Library serves 1,359 residents with about one full-time staff. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
Open only about 20 hours a week
Gleason Memorial Library keeps short hours: about 20 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Gleason’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Gleason is ahead of 49% of U.S. towns. Gleason’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull 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 →
7 community nonprofits are registered in Gleason
6.0 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (0 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.1%
9.1% of Gleason’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 Gleason’s residents live; 2022.
84% of borrowing is digital
1,774 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 5,693 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0 time last year, on average.
1,499 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Gleason Memorial Library serves 1,359 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 9 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
4 programs a year
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 Gleason last year.
Find it
Gleason Memorial Library, 105 College Street, Gleason.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Gleason? 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 $1.34 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Gleason cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $22K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $29K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $22K budget.
Fine-free. No late fees on books returned late.
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 52 cardholders ÷ 12.
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 Gleason
Does Gleason have a public library?
Yes. Gleason Memorial Library, 105 College Street, serves Gleason’s 1,359 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 20 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Gleason Memorial Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Gleason’s library?
It logged 0.4 visits and lent 1.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Gleason’s civic life grade?
B− Gleason is ahead of 49% 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 Gleason.
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.