Photo: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 3.0Plainfield’s library logs 0.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Aldrich Free Public Library serves Plainfield’s 15,193 residents. Last year it lent 15K books, movies and e-books and logged 6,348 visits.
What Plainfield’s library is like
Aldrich Free Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Aldrich Free Public Library records 0.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people. Borrowing is 1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $7 per resident, against a typical $43. How it compares ↓
Every town next door borrows more
Plainfield’s library lends 1 items per resident. Each of the five neighboring towns with a library of its own lends more, led by Voluntown at 5.6. Libraries next door ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Aldrich Free Public Library offered 29 programs last year, 1.9 per 1,000 residents against a typical 24. Kids & programs ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Aldrich Free Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. All six libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. 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 Plainfield’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Plainfield is ahead of 16% of U.S. towns, #146 of 155 in Connecticut. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the middle.
Aldrich Free Public Library spends $7 per resident, against a typical $43 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($58K–$96K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
44 community nonprofits are registered in Plainfield
2.9 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 (6 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.3%
7.3% of Plainfield’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 Plainfield’s residents live; 2022.
A National Register landmark since 1994
Aldrich Free Public Library, 299 Main St., Plainfield.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Plainfield? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Aldrich Free Public Library
Aldrich Free Public Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Jul 27, 1994. It is significant for its architecture, social history and education at the state level. Its architecture is described as Queen Anne.
Aldrich Free Public Library is the public library of the Moosup section of Plainfield, Connecticut. It is located at 299 Main Street, in an architecturally significant Queen Anne building constructed in 1895 with funds given by the library's major benefactors, David L. Aldrich and Edwin Milner. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.
More about the building →Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Aldrich Free Public Library serves 15,193 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 13 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
15K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 53K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.3 time last year, on average.
230 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
29 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Plainfield last year.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.59 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Plainfield cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $101K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $263K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $101K budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
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 7,843 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Plainfield ranks 6th of 6 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voluntown | Voluntown Public Library fine-free | 5.6 | 30 | B |
| Canterbury | Canterbury Public Library fine-free | 4.8 | 43 | B− |
| Killingly | Killingly Public Library fine-free | 4.4 | 45 | B− |
| Sterling | Sterling Public Library fine-free | 2.6 | 13 | D |
| Brooklyn | Brooklyn Town Library Association fine-free | 1.6 | 33 | C− |
| Plainfield | Aldrich Free Public Library | 1.0 | 23 | C− |
| Griswold | Slater Library fine-free | — | 33 | B+ |
| 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 Plainfield
Does Plainfield have a public library?
Yes. Aldrich Free Public Library, 299 Main St., serves Plainfield’s 15,193 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 23 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Aldrich Free Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Plainfield’s library?
It logged 0.4 visits and lent 1.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Plainfield’s civic life grade?
C− Plainfield is ahead of 16% of U.S. towns on civic life, #146 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 Plainfield.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.