Photo: Larry D. Moore · CC BY 4.0Gatesville’s library logs 6.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Gatesville Public Library serves 7,820 people in and around Gatesville. Last year it lent 34K books, movies and e-books and logged 50K visits.
What Gatesville’s library is like
More library cards than residents
9,147 cards for 7,820 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, it’s 42%. How it compares ↓
Programs draw a crowd
16,000 people came to the system’s 396 programs last year: 2.1 per resident, against a typical 0.5, more than at 96% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
Most programs are for young children
67% of the 396 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 2.3 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf
Only 4% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 86% of similar-size libraries. 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; Gatesville Public Library serves 7,820 people in and around Gatesville, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Gatesville’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Gatesville is ahead of 18% of U.S. towns, #342 of 539 in Texas. Gatesville is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Gatesville’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($43K–$72K) 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 Gatesville
2.8 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 (18 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.
5.9%
5.9% of Gatesville’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 Gatesville’s residents live; 2022.
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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Gatesville Public Library serves 7,820 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 14 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Gatesville Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
34K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
1,274 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Gatesville Public Library, 111 N 8th St., Gatesville.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Gatesville Public Library branch.
New in Gatesville? 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 $2.68 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Gatesville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $301K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $805K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $301K 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 9,147 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Gatesville Public Library serves 7,820 people in and around Gatesville, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Gatesville.
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 Gatesville
Does Gatesville have a public library?
Yes. Gatesville Public Library, 111 N 8th St., serves 7,820 people in and around Gatesville (the survey’s count) and is open about 53 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Gatesville Public 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 Gatesville’s library?
It logged 6.4 visits and lent 4.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Gatesville’s civic life grade?
C− Gatesville is ahead of 18% of U.S. towns on civic life, #342 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 Gatesville.
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.