Photo: Sage Ross · CC BY-SA 3.0Avon’s library lends 13 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Avon Free Public Library serves Avon’s 18,883 residents. Last year it lent 295K books, movies and e-books and logged 133K visits.
What Avon’s library is like
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 56% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 97% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 33 items per child in Avon last year. Kids & programs ↓
Avon uses its library more than almost any town its size
Avon Free Public Library logs 7.1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, and lends 13 print items per resident against a typical 3.9. On both counts it beats 91% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
Top 10% in Connecticut for borrowing
Avon ranks #5 of 123 Connecticut towns with a library of their own for items borrowed per resident. Print borrowing alone runs 13 items per resident, more than at 96% of similar-size libraries nationwide. How it compares ↓
Programs draw a crowd
34,000 people came to the library’s 998 programs last year: 1.8 per resident, against a typical 0.4, more than at 98% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
Avon invests in its library
Avon Free Public Library spends $99 per resident a year, about twice the typical $43 for a library its size. Almost all of it (98%) comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
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.
What’s behind Avon’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Avon is ahead of 85% of U.S. towns, #23 of 155 in Connecticut. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; library visits rank highest.
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 →
108 community nonprofits are registered in Avon
5.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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 (6 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 3 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
8.2%
8.2% of Avon’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.5% in the typical Connecticut 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 Avon’s residents live; 2022.
About 8 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 Avon last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Avon Free Public Library serves 18,883 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 100 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Not reported for 2024: funding. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
295K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 105K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.4 times last year, on average.
42,466 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Avon Free Public Library, 281 Country Club Rd., Avon.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Avon? 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 $2.49 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Avon cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.9M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.9M 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 7,550 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Avon ranks 2nd of 8 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simsbury | Simsbury Public Library fine-free | 19.0 | 63 | A |
| Avon | Avon Free Public Library fine-free | 15.6 | 57 | A− |
| Canton | Canton Public Library fine-free | 13.9 | 49 | A− |
| Collinsville | Canton Public Library fine-free | 13.9 | 49 | — graded as part of its town |
| Farmington | Farmington Library fine-free | 13.2 | 60 | B+ |
| West Hartford | West Hartford Public Library fine-free | 11.9 | 50 | B+ |
| Burlington | Burlington Public Library fine-free | 7.2 | 50 | B |
| Bloomfield | Bloomfield Public Library fine-free | 3.5 | 40 | C |
Loans = print + digital items borrowed in the library’s fiscal year, per person it serves. — = no library of its own, a county or regional system (its numbers cover many towns), or no report. Civic life: — = not graded (unincorporated places, whose nonprofits can’t be placed by mailing address, or towns with fewer than two of the three inputs).
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Not reported for 2024: funding. The survey filled the figure with its own estimate, so it is left out.
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 Avon
Does Avon have a public library?
Yes. Avon Free Public Library, 281 Country Club Rd., serves Avon’s 18,883 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 57 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Avon Free Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Avon’s library?
It logged 7.1 visits and lent 15.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Avon’s civic life grade?
A− Avon is ahead of 85% of U.S. towns on civic life, #23 of 155 in Connecticut. 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 Avon.
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.