Photo: Billy Hathorn at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Beeville’s library lends 1.5 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Joe Barnhart Bee County Library serves 23,978 people in and around Beeville. Last year it lent 40K books, movies and e-books and logged 78K visits.
What Beeville’s library is like
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
57% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 39%. What your card is worth ↓
84% of the people it serves carry a library card
20,059 cards for 23,978 people, or 84%. At the typical library serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, it’s 40%. How it compares ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 62% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is lower than at 70% of similar-size libraries, so the high share mostly reflects light borrowing by adults. 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; Joe Barnhart Bee County Library serves 23,978 people in and around Beeville, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Beeville’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Beeville is ahead of 15% of U.S. towns, #362 of 539 in Texas. Beeville is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Beeville’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Joe Barnhart Bee County Library spends $21 per resident, against a typical $43 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($38K–$63K) 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 →
46 community nonprofits are registered in Beeville
3.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (19 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
3.8%
3.8% of Beeville’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 5.7% in the typical Texas 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 Beeville’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Joe Barnhart Bee County Library serves 23,978 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 16 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Joe Barnhart Bee County Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
40K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
4,507 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
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
Joe Barnhart Bee County Library, 110 W Corpus Christi St., Beeville.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Joe Barnhart Bee County Library branch.
New in Beeville? 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 $1.24 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Beeville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $509K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $631K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $509K 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 20,059 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beeville | Joe Barnhart Bee County Library | — | 50 | D |
| Blue Berry Hill | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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.
- System-wide. Joe Barnhart Bee County Library serves 23,978 people in and around Beeville, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Beeville.
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 Beeville
Does Beeville have a public library?
Yes. Joe Barnhart Bee County Library, 110 W Corpus Christi St., serves 23,978 people in and around Beeville (the survey’s count) and is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Joe Barnhart Bee County 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 Beeville’s library?
It logged 3.2 visits and lent 1.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Beeville’s civic life grade?
D Beeville is ahead of 15% of U.S. towns on civic life, #362 of 539 in Texas. 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 Beeville.
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.