Nashville Library Reaches Milestone: 5 Million Checkouts

The Nashville library system has hit a major mark: 5 million items checked out.

“Nashville’s librarians are doing little book jigs today,” said library spokeswoman Andrea Fanta.

While t
he library would have hit this milestone eventually, Fanta said there are a few factors that have sped up the number of items checked out in some parts of town in recent years.

For one: construction of new library branches. In Antioch, the brand new southeast branch has seen checkouts jump by 14 percent since the fall. And the newest library, opened in Bellevue in January, is up 24 percent.

“This kind of if-you-build-it-they-will-borrow phenom
happened last time, when we hit four million checkouts, which was in June 2004,” Fanta said.

So in about a decade, Nashville checked out one million items. But what’s relatively new, compared to the last milestone, is electronic media and library downloads, which now account for a big share: 26 percent.

Last year alone, the library system added more than 200,000 items to the collection.

But it’s not too surprising that some old standbys still lead the way: mysteries, detective stories, and romance novels are still the most popular.