Photo: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 4.0Chaplin’s library runs 99 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60 for libraries its size
Chaplin Public Library serves Chaplin’s 2,157 residents. Last year it lent 10K books, movies and e-books and logged 6,290 visits.
The short version on Chaplin’s library
A small-town library
Chaplin Public Library serves 2,157 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 23 hours a week. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
Most of Chaplin’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 56% of loans, more per resident than at 83% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 44%. What people borrow ↓
Programs lean toward adults
74% of the 213 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 41 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Chaplin Public Library holds 24,000 books and other items, but the average item went out less than once last year. What people borrow ↓
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 Chaplin’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Chaplin is ahead of 79% of U.S. towns. Chaplin’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
14 community nonprofits are registered in Chaplin
6.9 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 (0 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
10.4%
10.4% of Chaplin’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 Chaplin’s residents live; 2022.
56% of borrowing is digital
10K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 24K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.2 time last year, on average.
5,760 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Chaplin Public Library serves 2,157 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 9 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
213 programs a year
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 Chaplin last year.
Find it
Chaplin Public Library, 130 Chaplin St., Chaplin.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Chaplin? 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 $2.11 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Chaplin cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $87K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $183K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $87K 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 560 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Chaplin ranks 2nd of 6 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mansfield | Mansfield Library fine-free | 6.7 | 49 | C+ |
| Chaplin | Chaplin Public Library fine-free | 4.8 | 23 | A− |
| Scotland | Scotland Public Library fine-free | 4.7 | 18 | B− |
| Ashford | Babcock Library fine-free | 3.3 | 36 | B− |
| Hampton | Fletcher Memorial Library fine-free | 2.5 | 20 | B+ |
| Windham | Willimantic Public Library fine-free | 1.4 | 44 | 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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Chaplin Public 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 Chaplin
Does Chaplin have a public library?
Yes. Chaplin Public Library, 130 Chaplin St., serves Chaplin’s 2,157 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 23 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Chaplin 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 Chaplin’s library?
It logged 2.9 visits and lent 4.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Chaplin’s civic life grade?
A− Chaplin is ahead of 79% 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 Chaplin.
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.