Jenkins Lutheran Chapel and Cemetery · Photo: Wpcooper52 · CC BY-SA 3.0Shelbyville’s library logs 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Shelbyville-Bedford County Public Library serves 53,055 people in and around Shelbyville. Last year it lent 78K books, movies and e-books and logged 40K visits.
What Shelbyville’s library is like
Shelbyville-Bedford County Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Shelbyville-Bedford County Public Library records 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people. Borrowing is 0.8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7. It also spends less than most: $6 per resident, against a typical $40. How it compares ↓
Runs on less money than most
Shelbyville-Bedford County Public Library spends $6 per resident, less than 99% of similar-size libraries (typical: $40). What your card is worth ↓
43% of borrowing happens on a screen
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 43% of loans. That’s partly because print borrowing is low: digital loans per resident are below typical too. What people borrow ↓
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; Shelbyville-Bedford County Public Library serves 53,055 people in and around Shelbyville, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Shelbyville’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Shelbyville is ahead of 24% of U.S. towns, #99 of 150 in Tennessee. Shelbyville is graded on two of the three inputs. Shelbyville’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Shelbyville-Bedford County Public Library spends $6 per resident, against a typical $40 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($41K–$69K) 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 →
99 community nonprofits are registered in Shelbyville
4.0 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 (34 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.
4.5%
4.5% of Shelbyville’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 Shelbyville’s residents live; 2022.
43% of borrowing is digital
78K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
33,397 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Shelbyville-Bedford County Public Library serves 53,055 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 24 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Shelbyville-Bedford County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
About 5 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
Shelbyville-Bedford County Public Library, 220 S. Jefferson Street, Shelbyville.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Shelbyville-Bedford County Public Library branch.
New in Shelbyville? 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 $3.88 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Shelbyville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $335K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $335K 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 17,464 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Shelbyville-Bedford County Public Library serves 53,055 people in and around Shelbyville, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Shelbyville.
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 Shelbyville
Does Shelbyville have a public library?
Yes. Shelbyville-Bedford County Public Library, 220 S. Jefferson Street, serves 53,055 people in and around Shelbyville (the survey’s count) and is open about 60 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Shelbyville-Bedford County Public 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 Shelbyville’s library?
It logged 0.8 visits and lent 1.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Shelbyville’s civic life grade?
C− Shelbyville is ahead of 24% of U.S. towns on civic life, #99 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 Shelbyville.
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.