Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0Seymour’s library is a branch of Sevier County Public Library System, which lends less per resident than 59% of systems its size
Seymour’s library is the Seymour Branch Library, a branch of Sevier County Public Library System, which serves 89,357 people and lent 377K items last year.
What stands out about Seymour Branch Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Seymour’s civic life grade
Seymour isn’t graded on civic life: it’s unincorporated, so its nonprofits can’t be counted reliably (mailing addresses don’t follow its boundary) and its library is a branch of Sevier County Public Library System, so there is no town figure for visits.
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 →
Volunteering in Seymour
Seymour is unincorporated, so its nonprofits aren’t counted: they file by mailing address, which doesn’t follow its boundary.
6.7%
6.7% of Seymour’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 Seymour’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.
Sevier County Public Library System serves 89,357 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 52 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Sevier County Public Library System system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
377K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
108,480 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 25 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
Seymour Branch Library, 137 West Macon Lane, Seymour.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Sevier County Public Library System branch.
New in Seymour? 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 $3.53 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Seymour cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.8M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.8M 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 72,149 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Seymour Branch Library is one branch of Sevier County Public Library System, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 89,357 people it serves.
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 Seymour
Does Seymour have a public library?
Yes: Seymour Branch Library, 137 West Macon Lane, is a branch of Sevier County Public Library System, which serves 89,357 people. The branch is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Sevier County Public Library System 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 Seymour’s library?
It logged 2.6 visits and lent 4.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Seymour’s civic life grade?
Seymour isn’t graded on civic life: it’s unincorporated, so its nonprofits can’t be counted reliably (mailing addresses don’t follow its boundary) and its library is a branch of Sevier County Public Library System, so there is no town figure for visits. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Seymour.
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.