Photo: Patrick Feller from Humble, Texas, USA · CC BY 2.0Rusk’s library logs 3.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Singletary Memorial Library serves Rusk’s 3,030 residents. Last year it lent 11K books, movies and e-books and logged 11K visits.
What Rusk’s library is like
Programs are almost all for children
97% of the 107 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 1 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Singletary Memorial Library holds 26,000 books and other items, but the average item went out less than once last year. 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.
What’s behind Rusk’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Rusk is ahead of 71% of U.S. towns, #64 of 539 in Texas. Rusk is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Rusk’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
20 community nonprofits are registered in Rusk
3.6 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 (10 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
10.2%
10.2% of Rusk’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 Rusk’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Singletary Memorial Library serves 3,030 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 4 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
11K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 26K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.3 time last year, on average.
2,735 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 kids’ programs 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 Rusk last year.
Find it
Singletary Memorial Library, 207 E 6th St., Rusk.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Rusk? 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 $1.21 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Rusk cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $142K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $171K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $142K 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 2,352 cardholders ÷ 12.
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 Rusk
Does Rusk have a public library?
Yes. Singletary Memorial Library, 207 E 6th St., serves Rusk’s 3,030 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 51 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Singletary Memorial 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 Rusk’s library?
It logged 3.7 visits and lent 3.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Rusk’s civic life grade?
B+ Rusk is ahead of 71% of U.S. towns on civic life, #64 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 Rusk.
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.