Photo: Jeffrey Beall · CC BY-SA 3.0Holyoke’s library logs 2.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Holyoke/Heginbotham Library serves Holyoke’s 2,287 residents. Last year it lent 8,983 books, movies and e-books and logged 6,680 visits.
What Holyoke’s library is like
More library cards than residents
5,378 cards for 2,287 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
Most programs are for young children
69% of the 128 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including 44 for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Holyoke’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Holyoke is ahead of 51% of U.S. towns. Holyoke’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups 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 →
31 community nonprofits are registered in Holyoke
13.0 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.
4.8%
4.8% of Holyoke’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.8% in the typical Colorado 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 Holyoke’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Holyoke/Heginbotham Library serves 2,287 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 4 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
8,983 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 12K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.7 time last year, on average.
1,183 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
About 2 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 Holyoke last year.
Find it
Holyoke/Heginbotham Library, 539 South Baxter Avenue, Holyoke.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting.
New in Holyoke? 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 $1.55 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Holyoke cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $96K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $149K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $96K budget.
Fine-free. No late fees on books returned late.
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 5,378 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. Holyoke/Heginbotham 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 Holyoke
Does Holyoke have a public library?
Yes. Holyoke/Heginbotham Library, 539 South Baxter Avenue, serves Holyoke’s 2,287 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 49 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Holyoke/Heginbotham Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Holyoke’s library?
It logged 2.9 visits and lent 3.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Holyoke’s civic life grade?
B− Holyoke is ahead of 51% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Holyoke.
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.