Photo: GTD Aquitaine · Public domainPeterborough Public Library and Peterborough Public Library - Delafosse Branch are Peterborough’s two public libraries
Peterborough Public Library serves 83,651 people from 2 branches. 3.9 items per person served went out on loan in 2024. Like every Ontario library, it reports one typical week of visits, and the year is that week times 52: an estimate.
BCivic life#59 of 866 in OntarioPeterborough’s civic life grade, input by input
Peterborough gets a B for civic life, #59 of 866 towns graded in Ontario. All three civic life inputs exist for Peterborough: library visits per resident, charities per 1,000 residents and the provincial volunteering rate.
Informal groups and mutual aid go uncounted.
Sources: provincial statistics, the CRA, Statistics Canada.
225 registered charities are based in Peterborough, by mailing address
That is 2.3 per 1,000 residents, against 1.4 in the typical Ontario town and 1.4 across Canada. The CRA files each charity under its mailing address, so a service town collects its region’s charities and a suburb or rural municipality few.
32.1%
No town-level count exists, so the page uses Ontario as a whole: 32.1% volunteered formally in 2023, between 31.0% and 33.2%, while the provinces span 25.2% to 40.3%.
Statistics Canada, table 45-10-0039.
Ahead of most of Ontario’s town libraries on 1 of 3 measures
Each figure is per person served, set against 195 town libraries in Ontario’s statistics for 2024.
Town libraries only; regional systems left out.
About 5,737 visits in a typical week
What Peterborough Public Library counted in 2024, as the library reported it.
2 public libraries in Peterborough
In order of distance from the centre of Peterborough, as the crow flies.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Library locations. Statistics Canada’s 2020 facilities list and OpenStreetMap supply the points; libraries of schools, colleges and hospitals are not shown.
Questions about the library and civic life in Peterborough
Does Peterborough have a public library?
Yes, 2: Peterborough Public Library and Peterborough Public Library - Delafosse Branch.
How busy is Peterborough Public Library?
The 2024 totals: 298,324 in-person visits, 324,092 loans.
Library statistics: Ontario Public Library Statistics, 2024. Library locations: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) and Statistics Canada, Open Database of Cultural and Art Facilities (2020). Charities: Canada Revenue Agency, List of charities (2024), charitable organizations only.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).