Photo: Billy Hathorn at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Center’s library logs 1 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Fannie Brown Booth Memorial Library serves Center’s 5,163 residents. Last year it lent 12K books, movies and e-books and logged 5,041 visits.
The short version on Center’s library
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
47% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 53%. What your card is worth ↓
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.
What’s behind Center’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Center is ahead of 9% of U.S. towns, #414 of 539 in Texas. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Center’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Fannie Brown Booth Memorial Library spends $21 per resident, against a typical $43 for libraries its size, and its 2024 visits are an estimate from one typical week (the survey’s method for libraries that don’t count every visit).
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($36K–$60K) 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 →
18 community nonprofits are registered in Center
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 (7 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
3.6%
3.6% of Center’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 Center’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Fannie Brown Booth Memorial Library serves 5,163 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 7 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
12K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 15K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.7 time last year, on average.
2,235 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
100 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Center last year.
Find it
Fannie Brown Booth Memorial Library, 619 Tenaha St., Center.
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 $1.87 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Center cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $108K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $203K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $108K 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 3,511 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Fannie Brown Booth Memorial Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Center
Does Center have a public library?
Yes. Fannie Brown Booth Memorial Library, 619 Tenaha St., serves Center’s 5,163 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 36 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Fannie Brown Booth Memorial Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Center’s library?
It logged 1.0 visits and lent 2.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Center’s civic life grade?
D Center is ahead of 9% of U.S. towns on civic life, #414 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 Center.
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.