Photo: Doug Kerr · CC BY-SA 2.0Salisbury’s library logs 15 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Scoville Memorial Library serves Salisbury’s 4,240 residents. Last year it lent 50K books, movies and e-books and logged 65K visits.
The short version on Salisbury’s library
Salisbury ranks 2nd in Connecticut for library use
Out of 123 Connecticut towns with a library of their own, Salisbury comes 2nd for visits per resident. How it compares ↓
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
56% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 43%. What your card is worth ↓
Salisbury uses its library more than almost any town its size
Scoville Memorial Library logs 15 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, and lends 9.1 print items per resident against a typical 3.8. On both counts it beats 89% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
Three times the programs of a typical library its size
Scoville Memorial Library ran 463 programs last year, about 9 a week. That’s 109 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34. People show up: 7,364 attended. Kids & programs ↓
The library is a National Register landmark
Scoville Memorial Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1982. Today’s library there has 6,600 square feet. The building ↓
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 Salisbury’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Salisbury is among the top 1% of U.S. towns, #1 of 155 in Connecticut. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; library visits rank highest.
Scoville Memorial Library logged 15.3 visits per resident in FY2024, #64 of the 3,790 town libraries we compare. The survey counts every visit, residents or not, and libraries don’t report how many come from out of town.
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 →
50 community nonprofits are registered in Salisbury
11.9 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (2 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.
11.1%
11.1% of Salisbury’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 Salisbury’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 25 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Scoville Memorial Library serves 4,240 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
50K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 29K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.3 time last year, on average.
11,545 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 5 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 Salisbury last year.
A National Register landmark since 1982
Scoville Memorial Library, 38 Main St., Salisbury.
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 Salisbury? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Scoville Memorial Library
Scoville Memorial Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Apr 29, 1982. It is significant for its architecture and social history at the state level. Its architecture is described as Romanesque Revival.
Scoville Memorial Library is the public library of Salisbury, Connecticut. Established in 1803, it was the first in the United States open to the public free of charge. It is located at 38 Main Street, in an architecturally distinguished Romanesque 1894 building donated by Jonathan Scoville, a local philanthropist. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
More about the building →For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.52 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Salisbury cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $541K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $823K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $541K 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 2,037 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Salisbury ranks 2nd of 8 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sheffield | Bushnell-Sage Library fine-free | 12.2 | 38 | A |
| Salisbury | Scoville Memorial Library fine-free | 11.8 | 39 | A+ |
| Canaan | David M. Hunt Library fine-free | 9.1 | 27 | A+ |
| Falls Village | David M. Hunt Library fine-free | 9.1 | 27 | — under 1,000 residents |
| North East | Northeast-Millerton Library fine-free | 8.7 | 33 | A− |
| Sharon | Hotchkiss Library of Sharon fine-free | 5.0 | 40 | A |
| Mount Washington | Mount Washington Public Library fine-free | 2.9 | 10 | — under 1,000 residents |
| North Canaan | Douglas Library fine-free | 2.9 | 30 | B |
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 count everyone. Salisbury’s 64,994 visits include people from nearby towns and summer visitors; the survey has no resident share.
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 Salisbury
Does Salisbury have a public library?
Yes. Scoville Memorial Library, 38 Main St., serves Salisbury’s 4,240 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 39 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Scoville Memorial 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 Salisbury’s library?
It logged 15.3 visits and lent 11.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Salisbury’s civic life grade?
A+ Salisbury is among the top 1% of U.S. towns on civic life, #1 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 Salisbury.
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.