Photo: Renelibrary · CC BY-SA 4.0Gainesville’s library logs 1.3 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Cooke County Library serves 40,515 people in and around Gainesville. Last year it lent 90K books, movies and e-books and logged 52K visits.
What Gainesville’s library is like
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, Cooke County Library sits below the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on five. How it compares ↓
Programs are almost all for children
85% of the 460 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 6.4 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 17% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 39% for its size. How it compares ↓
Runs on less money than most
Cooke County Library spends $13 per resident, less than 91% of similar-size libraries (typical: $40). 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; Cooke County Library serves 40,515 people in and around Gainesville, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Gainesville’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Gainesville is ahead of 53% of U.S. towns, #122 of 539 in Texas. Gainesville is graded on two of the three inputs. Gainesville’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 →
103 community nonprofits are registered in Gainesville
5.7 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. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.0%
6.0% of Gainesville’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 Gainesville’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Cooke County Library serves 40,515 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 37 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Cooke County Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
90K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
18,571 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 8 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
Cooke County Library, 200 S Weaver St., Gainesville.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Cooke County Library branch.
New in Gainesville? 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 $2.77 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Gainesville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $535K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $535K 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 6,864 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gainesville | Cooke County Library | — | 49 | B− |
| Lindsay | None of its own | — | — | — too few inputs |
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. Cooke County Library serves 40,515 people in and around Gainesville, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Gainesville.
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 Gainesville
Does Gainesville have a public library?
Yes. Cooke County Library, 200 S Weaver St., serves 40,515 people in and around Gainesville (the survey’s count) and is open about 49 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Cooke 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 Gainesville’s library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 2.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Gainesville’s civic life grade?
B− Gainesville is ahead of 53% of U.S. towns on civic life, #122 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 Gainesville.
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.