librarysystems

Nashville Public Library

Nashville, TennesseeDavidson CountyCity-county libraryLarge cityFiscal year July 2023 to June 2024

Nashville Public Library is a city-county public library system based in Nashville (Davidson County), Tennessee, serving a legal service area of 712,334 residents through 21 library buildings. Among the 184 profiled systems in Tennessee, it leads on total visits, physical checkouts, operating spending and number of library buildings.

Among profiled systems serving 500,000 to 999,999 residents, it ranks third for the electronic share of checkouts, fourth for program attendance per resident, fifth for public computers per resident and seventh for visits per resident. Against the median system of its size class, it records 57% more operating spending per resident and 46% more paid staff per resident.

Compare with similar-size systemsSystems serving 500,000 to 999,999

Nashville against the 61 systems of its size class

size-class median (50th percentile) · spine height = percentile within the class3.87Visitsper resident89th percentile4.64Checkoutsper resident57th percentile$75.07Spendingper resident80th percentile1.56Print volumesper resident68th percentile466Program visitsper 1,000 people94th percentile13.0Computersper 10,000 people93rd percentile46.5Open hoursper outlet a week51st percentile6.0Staff (FTE)per 10,000 people76th percentile
Gold tick: size-class medianVisits per resident3.8789th pct.Checkouts per resident4.6457th pct.Spending per resident$75.0780th pct.Print volumes per resident1.5668th pct.Program visits per 1,000 people46694th pct.Computers per 10,000 people13.093rd pct.Open hours per outlet a week46.551st pct.Staff (FTE) per 10,000 people6.076th pct.

How the measures and percentiles are calculated

Nashville since FY 2019

Visits were 16% below the FY 2019 count of 3.3 million (size-class median: −30%). Physical checkouts moved 28% down over the same span.

FY 2019 = 10060708090100110FY 2019FY 2023FY 2024
FY 2019 = 10060708090100110FY 2019FY 2023FY 2024
  • Visits
  • Physical checkouts

Who comes to Nashville programs

Programs for children up to age 11 drew 51% of all program attendance, and sessions averaged 18 people each.

Children 0–11170,537Young adults 12–1856,173Adults 19+105,321
Children 0–11170,537Young adults 12–1856,173Adults 19+105,321

Nashville in numbers, FY 2024

Visits
2,760,197
Physical checkouts
3,301,895
…of children's materials
1,737,059
Electronic checkouts
5,120,861
…of e-books
3,295,146
…of e-audio
1,456,952
Registered users
305,583
Program sessions
18,652
Program attendance
332,031
Print volumes
1,113,960
Audio items (physical)
32,461
Video items (physical)
100,805
Public computers
927
Public service hours, all outlets
50,828
Paid staff (full-time equivalent)
426.9
Operating spending
$53.5 million
…on books and other materials
$8 million
Overdue fines on print items
not charged

Where Nashville gets its operating money

Operating revenue came to $49.1 million, or $68.93 per resident. The local-government share is close to the combined share for the 184 profiled systems in Tennessee.

This system96%All profiled systems in Tennessee94%
This system96%All profiled systems in Tennessee94%
  • Local government
  • State
  • Federal
  • Other (fines, fees, gifts, grants)

Nashville, building by building

The 21 buildings cover 571,632 square feet in total, 0.80 square feet per resident against a median of 0.45 for the size class. The largest building is Nashville Public Library at 300,000 square feet; the smallest is Watkins Park Community Library at 1,840. The longest hours are at Green Hills Branch Library, 54.8 a week.

BuildingTypeTownHours a weekFloor area, sq ft
Nashville Public LibraryCentral libraryNashville52.9300,000
Bellevue Branch LibraryBranchNashville41.524,580
Bordeaux Branch LibraryBranchNashville53.220,400
Donelson Branch LibraryBranchNashville48.723,936
East Branch LibraryBranchNashville44.45,280
Edgehill Branch LibraryBranchNashville38.24,451
Edmondson Pike Branch LibraryBranchNashville53.725,160
Goodlettsville Branch LibraryBranchGoodlettsville44.416,000
Green Hills Branch LibraryBranchNashville54.825,540
Hadley Park Branch LibraryBranchNashville44.45,253
Hermitage Branch LibraryBranchHermitage53.725,330
Inglewood Branch LibraryBranchNashville44.45,480
Madison Branch LibraryBranchMadison54.520,680
Mary & Charles W. Pruitt LibraryBranchNashville44.412,210
North Branch LibraryBranchNashville36.95,207
Old Hickory Branch LibraryBranchOld Hickory44.45,694
Richland Park Branch LibraryBranchNashville44.46,845
Southeast Branch LibraryBranchAntioch53.725,000
Thompson Lane Branch LibraryBranchNashville44.15,501
Watkins Park Community LibraryBranchNashville37.41,840
Z. Alexander Looby Branch LibraryBranchNashville43.27,245

City-county libraries of similar size in other states

None of these six systems records more visits per resident than this one. The highest checkout rate in the group belongs to Siouxland Libraries in South Dakota.

SystemBased inResidentsVisits per residentCheckouts per residentSpending per resident
Pima County Public LibraryTucson, AZ1,086,6342.341.57$41.62
Stockton-San Joaquin County Public LibraryStockton, CA724,9160.901.32$21.24
Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Library SystemAlbuquerque, NM676,4442.422.98$28.03
Lake County Library SystemTavares, FL432,7962.503.25$25.02
New Orleans Public LibraryNew Orleans, LA362,7013.022.89$65.01
Siouxland LibrariesSioux Falls, SD255,9133.355.95$43.13

Nearest in size within Tennessee

All profiled systems in Tennessee