Photo: Michael Barera · CC BY-SA 4.0Carthage’s library runs 3.7 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Sammy Brown Library serves 22,838 people in and around Carthage. Last year it lent 54K books, movies and e-books and logged 42K visits.
What Carthage’s library is like
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, Sammy Brown Library sits below the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on six. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Sammy Brown Library offered 84 programs last year, 3.7 per 1,000 residents against a typical 24. Kids & programs ↓
Programs are almost all for children
86% of the 84 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including 36 for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
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; Sammy Brown Library serves 22,838 people in and around Carthage, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Carthage’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Carthage is ahead of 52% of U.S. towns, #129 of 539 in Texas. Carthage is graded on two of the three inputs. Carthage’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups 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 →
31 community nonprofits are registered in Carthage
4.7 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 (14 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.7%
6.7% of Carthage’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 Carthage’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Sammy Brown Library serves 22,838 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 22 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Sammy Brown Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
54K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
10,614 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 1 kids’ program 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
Sammy Brown Library, 319 S Market St., Carthage.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Sammy Brown Library branch.
New in Carthage? 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 $1.50 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Carthage cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $583K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $874K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $583K 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 6,905 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Sammy Brown Library serves 22,838 people in and around Carthage, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Carthage.
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 Carthage
Does Carthage have a public library?
Yes. Sammy Brown Library, 319 S Market St., serves 22,838 people in and around Carthage (the survey’s count) and is open about 47 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Sammy Brown 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 Carthage’s library?
It logged 1.8 visits and lent 2.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Carthage’s civic life grade?
B− Carthage is ahead of 52% of U.S. towns on civic life, #129 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 Carthage.
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.