Photo: JJBers · CC BY-SA 4.0Scotland’s library runs 158 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60 for libraries its size
Scotland Public Library serves Scotland’s 1,578 residents. Last year it lent 7,387 books, movies and e-books and logged 5,509 visits.
Scotland’s library, in brief
Open only about 18 hours a week
Scotland Public Library keeps short hours: about 18 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Willimantic Public Library in Windham, next door, is open about 44 hours a week. The building ↓
A small-town library
Scotland Public Library serves 1,578 residents with about one full-time staff. 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 ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Scotland Public Library holds 24,000 books and other items, but the average item went out less than once last year. What people borrow ↓
Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf
Only 0% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 81% of similar-size libraries. 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 Scotland’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Scotland is ahead of 55% of U.S. towns. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Scotland’s count of community nonprofits pulls 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 →
5 community nonprofits are registered in Scotland
3.3 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: arts & culture.
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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.0%
9.0% of Scotland’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 Scotland’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Scotland Public Library serves 1,578 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 8 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
7,387 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 24K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.3 time last year, on average.
31 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
About 2 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 Scotland last year.
Find it
Scotland Public Library, 21 Brook Road, Scotland.
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 $1.71 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Scotland cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $71K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $121K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $71K 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 344 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Scotland ranks 3rd of 7 for borrowing per resident. 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− |
| Chaplin | Chaplin Public Library fine-free | 4.8 | 23 | A− |
| Scotland | Scotland Public Library fine-free | 4.7 | 18 | B− |
| Franklin | Janet Carlson Calvert Library fine-free | 4.2 | 29 | A− |
| Sprague | Sprague Public Library fine-free | 3.0 | 31 | C+ |
| 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.
- 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 Scotland
Does Scotland have a public library?
Yes. Scotland Public Library, 21 Brook Road, serves Scotland’s 1,578 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 18 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Scotland Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Scotland’s library?
It logged 3.5 visits and lent 4.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Scotland’s civic life grade?
B− Scotland is ahead of 55% 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 Scotland.
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.