Evans Block · Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0Smithville’s library logs 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Justin Potter Library serves 21,225 people in and around Smithville. Last year it lent 43K books, movies and e-books and logged 17K visits.
The short version on Smithville’s library
Justin Potter Library is used less than most libraries its size
Justin Potter Library records 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people. Borrowing is 1.1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $10 per resident, against a typical $43. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Justin Potter Library offered 36 programs last year, 1.7 per 1,000 residents against a typical 24. Kids & programs ↓
Open about 65 hours a week
The Smithville branch is open about 65 hours a week, averaged over the year. The building ↓
Runs on less money than most
Justin Potter Library spends $10 per resident, less than 96% of similar-size libraries (typical: $43). 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; Justin Potter Library serves 21,225 people in and around Smithville, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Smithville’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Smithville is ahead of 45% of U.S. towns, #51 of 150 in Tennessee. Smithville is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Smithville’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 →
9 community nonprofits are registered in Smithville
1.8 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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.
10.7%
10.7% of Smithville’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 Smithville’s residents live; 2022.
43% of borrowing is digital
43K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
18,565 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 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Justin Potter Library serves 21,225 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 12 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Justin Potter Library system. The library’s own count.
36 programs a year
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
Justin Potter Library, 101 South First Street, Smithville.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Justin Potter Library branch.
New in Smithville? 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 $3.28 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Smithville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $215K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $706K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $215K 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 10,320 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Justin Potter Library serves 21,225 people in and around Smithville, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Smithville.
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 Smithville
Does Smithville have a public library?
Yes. Justin Potter Library, 101 South First Street, serves 21,225 people in and around Smithville (the survey’s count) and is open about 65 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Justin Potter 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 Smithville’s library?
It logged 0.8 visits and lent 2.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Smithville’s civic life grade?
B− Smithville is ahead of 45% of U.S. towns on civic life, #51 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 Smithville.
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.