Photo: Cathy Cline · CC BY-SA 3.0Canterbury’s library runs 88 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Canterbury Public Library serves Canterbury’s 5,140 residents. Last year it lent 25K books, movies and e-books and logged 17K visits.
What stands out about Canterbury’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Canterbury’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Canterbury is ahead of 55% of U.S. towns, #83 of 155 in Connecticut. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull 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 →
19 community nonprofits are registered in Canterbury
3.7 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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
8.7%
8.7% of Canterbury’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 Canterbury’s residents live; 2022.
About 4 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 Canterbury last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Canterbury Public Library serves 5,140 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 11 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
25K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 18K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.2 time last year, on average.
2,478 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Canterbury Public Library, 1 Municipal Drive, Canterbury.
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 Canterbury? 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 $2.70 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Canterbury cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $149K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $404K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $149K 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 1,179 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Canterbury borrows the most per resident of the 5 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canterbury | Canterbury Public Library fine-free | 4.8 | 43 | B− |
| Scotland | Scotland Public Library fine-free | 4.7 | 18 | B− |
| Hampton | Fletcher Memorial Library fine-free | 2.5 | 20 | B+ |
| Brooklyn | Brooklyn Town Library Association fine-free | 1.6 | 33 | C− |
| Plainfield | Aldrich Free Public Library | 1.0 | 23 | C− |
| Wauregan | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
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.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Canterbury
Does Canterbury have a public library?
Yes. Canterbury Public Library, 1 Municipal Drive, serves Canterbury’s 5,140 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 43 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Canterbury 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 Canterbury’s library?
It logged 3.2 visits and lent 4.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Canterbury’s civic life grade?
B− Canterbury is ahead of 55% of U.S. towns on civic life, #83 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 Canterbury.
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.