Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Manchester’s library runs 5.3 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Coffee County-Manchester Public Library serves 30,178 people in and around Manchester. Last year it lent 153K books, movies and e-books and logged 60K visits.
What stands out about Coffee County-Manchester Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Manchester’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Manchester is ahead of 50% of U.S. towns, #38 of 150 in Tennessee. Manchester is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Manchester’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
41 community nonprofits are registered in Manchester
3.2 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
8.6%
8.6% of Manchester’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 Manchester’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Coffee County-Manchester Public Library serves 30,178 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 51 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Coffee County-Manchester Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
153K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
41,088 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 kids’ programs a week
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
Coffee County-Manchester Public Library, 1005 Hillsboro Blvd., Manchester.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Coffee County-Manchester Public Library branch.
New in Manchester? 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 $4.04 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Manchester cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $607K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $607K 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 11,717 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Coffee County-Manchester Public Library serves 30,178 people in and around Manchester, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Manchester.
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 Manchester
Does Manchester have a public library?
Yes. Coffee County-Manchester Public Library, 1005 Hillsboro Blvd., serves 30,178 people in and around Manchester (the survey’s count) and is open about 58 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Coffee County-Manchester 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 Manchester’s library?
It logged 2.0 visits and lent 5.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Manchester’s civic life grade?
B− Manchester is ahead of 50% of U.S. towns on civic life, #38 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 Manchester.
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.