Photo: GatewayPolitics · CC BY-SA 4.0Hendersonville’s library lends 1.8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.2 for libraries its size
Hendersonville Public Library of Sumner County serves Hendersonville’s 104,912 residents. Last year it lent 276K books, movies and e-books and logged 192K visits.
What Hendersonville’s library is like
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Hendersonville Public Library of Sumner County charges late fines on some overdue items. Two of the three libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
A place to get online
Hendersonville Public Library of Sumner County logs about 1,218 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 37 public computers. That’s 4.2 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 61% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is lower than at 69% of similar-size libraries, so the high share mostly reflects light borrowing by adults. What people borrow ↓
Runs on less money than most
Hendersonville Public Library of Sumner County spends $9 per resident, less than 98% of similar-size libraries (typical: $36). 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 Hendersonville’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Hendersonville is ahead of 31% of U.S. towns, #78 of 150 in Tennessee. Hendersonville is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($73K–$122K) 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 →
168 community nonprofits are registered in Hendersonville
2.7 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 (57 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 8 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.5%
7.5% of Hendersonville’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 Hendersonville’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Hendersonville Public Library of Sumner County serves 104,912 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 133 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
276K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 98K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.9 times last year, on average.
90,885 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 8 kids’ programs 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 Hendersonville last year.
Find it
Hendersonville Public Library of Sumner County, 140 Saundersville Road, Hendersonville.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Hendersonville? 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 $5.82 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Hendersonville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $935K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $5.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $935K 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 45,628 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Hendersonville ranks 3rd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nashville | Nashville Public Library fine-free | 11.8 | 53 | B− |
| Goodlettsville | Goodlettsville Branch Library fine-free | 11.8 | 44 | C− |
| Hendersonville | Hendersonville Public Library of Sumner County | 2.6 | 40 | C |
| Gallatin | Gallatin Public Library of Sumner County | — | 44 | C |
| Shackle Island | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
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 Hendersonville
Does Hendersonville have a public library?
Yes. Hendersonville Public Library of Sumner County, 140 Saundersville Road, serves Hendersonville’s 104,912 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Hendersonville Public Library of Sumner County 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 Hendersonville’s library?
It logged 1.8 visits and lent 2.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Hendersonville’s civic life grade?
C Hendersonville is ahead of 31% of U.S. towns on civic life, #78 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 Hendersonville.
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.