Photo: LibertyNALE · CC BY-SA 4.0Justin’s library lends 2.4 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Mary Emma Tate Community Library serves Justin’s 8,110 residents. Last year it lent 22K books, movies and e-books and logged 16K visits.
What Justin’s library is like
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 76% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 55% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 14% of the people Mary Emma Tate Community Library serves have a library card, against a typical 42% for its size. How it compares ↓
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 Justin’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Justin is ahead of 18% of U.S. towns, #332 of 539 in Texas. Justin is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Justin’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($86K–$143K) 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 →
15 community nonprofits are registered in Justin
2.8 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 (4 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.
6.1%
6.1% of Justin’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 Justin’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Mary Emma Tate Community Library serves 8,110 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 10 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
22K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 19K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1 time last year, on average.
2,550 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, 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 Justin last year.
Find it
Mary Emma Tate Community Library, 408 Pafford St., Justin.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Justin? 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 $1.44 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Justin cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $241K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $346K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $241K 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 1,155 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Justin | Mary Emma Tate Community Library | 2.7 | 45 | C− |
| Northlake | None of its own | — | — | C |
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.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Justin
Does Justin have a public library?
Yes. Mary Emma Tate Community Library, 408 Pafford St., serves Justin’s 8,110 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 45 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Mary Emma Tate Community 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 Justin’s library?
It logged 2.0 visits and lent 2.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Justin’s civic life grade?
C− Justin is ahead of 18% of U.S. towns on civic life, #332 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 Justin.
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.