Photo: ProfessorKon · CC BY-SA 4.0Sealy’s library logs 1.2 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Virgil & Josephine Gordon Memorial Library serves Sealy’s 14,486 residents. Last year it lent 16K print books and media and logged 17K visits.
What Sealy’s library is like
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
80% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 19%. What your card is worth ↓
Virgil & Josephine Gordon Memorial Library is used less than most libraries its size
Virgil & Josephine Gordon Memorial Library records 1.2 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people. Borrowing is 1.1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $15 per resident, against a typical $43. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Virgil & Josephine Gordon Memorial Library offered 86 programs last year, 5.9 per 1,000 residents against a typical 24. Kids & programs ↓
Most programs are for young children
79% of the 86 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 1 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 18% of the people Virgil & Josephine Gordon Memorial Library serves have a library card, against a typical 40% 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 Sealy’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Sealy is ahead of 63% of U.S. towns, #90 of 539 in Texas. Sealy is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Sealy’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 →
22 community nonprofits are registered in Sealy
3.2 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.
10.2%
10.2% of Sealy’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 Sealy’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Virgil & Josephine Gordon Memorial Library serves 14,486 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 7 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
16K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 36K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
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 Sealy last year.
Find it
Virgil & Josephine Gordon Memorial Library, 917 N Circle Dr, Sealy.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Sealy? 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 $1.19 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Sealy cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $214K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $255K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $214K 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 2,635 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Digital loans not reported. The library didn’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
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 Sealy
Does Sealy have a public library?
Yes. Virgil & Josephine Gordon Memorial Library, 917 N Circle Dr, serves Sealy’s 14,486 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 45 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Virgil & Josephine Gordon 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 Sealy’s library?
It logged 1.2 visits and lent 1.1 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Sealy’s civic life grade?
B Sealy is ahead of 63% of U.S. towns on civic life, #90 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 Sealy.
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.