Photo: Michael Barera · CC BY-SA 4.0Tyler’s library runs 4.9 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 9 for libraries its size
Tyler Public Library serves Tyler’s 110,327 residents. Last year it lent 351K books, movies and e-books and logged 152K visits.
What stands out about Tyler’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Tyler’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Tyler is ahead of 19% of U.S. towns, #328 of 539 in Texas. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #218. Tyler’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Tyler Public Library spends $18 per resident, against a typical $36 for libraries its size, and its 2024 visits are an estimate from one typical week (the survey’s method for libraries that don’t count every visit).
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($51K–$84K) 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 →
496 community nonprofits are registered in Tyler
4.5 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 (248 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 21 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
4.5%
4.5% of Tyler’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 Tyler’s residents live; 2022.
A National Register landmark since 1979
Tyler Public Library, 201 S College Ave, Tyler.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Tyler? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Carnegie Public Library
Carnegie Public Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Mar 26, 1979. It is significant for its education and social history at the local level.
The Smith County Historical Society, housed in the Carnegie Library, is located at 125 S. College Street in the city of Tyler, Smith County, Texas, U.S. It was built in 1904 as the Carnegie Public Library, and added to the National Register of Historic Places listings in Smith County, Texas in 1979.
More about the building →Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Tyler Public Library serves 110,327 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 128 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
351K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 230K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1 time last year, on average.
128,490 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 7 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 Tyler last year.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.74 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Tyler cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $5.5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2M 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 24,770 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Tyler Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Tyler
Does Tyler have a public library?
Yes. Tyler Public Library, 201 S College Ave, serves Tyler’s 110,327 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 53 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Tyler 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 Tyler’s library?
It logged 1.4 visits and lent 3.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Tyler’s civic life grade?
C− Tyler is ahead of 19% of U.S. towns on civic life, #328 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 Tyler.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.