Photo: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 3.0Sterling’s library logs 0.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Sterling Public Library serves Sterling’s 3,644 residents. Last year it lent 9,519 books, movies and e-books and logged 3,240 visits.
The short version on Sterling’s library
Programs are almost all for children
98% of the 51 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including 48 for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Open only about 13 hours a week
Sterling Public Library keeps short hours: about 13 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Coventry Public Library in Coventry, next door, is open about 55 hours a week. The building ↓
Fewer visits than most libraries its size
Sterling Public Library records 0.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, below 90% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing holds up better, at 2.6 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Sterling Public Library holds 37,000 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.
What’s behind Sterling’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Sterling is ahead of 11% of U.S. towns, #149 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.
Sterling Public Library spends $24 per resident, against a typical $43 for libraries its size, and its 2024 visits are an estimate from one typical week (the survey’s method for libraries that don’t count every visit).
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($77K–$128K) 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 →
8 community nonprofits are registered in Sterling
2.2 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: environment & animals.
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 (5 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.9%
6.9% of Sterling’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 Sterling’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Sterling Public Library serves 3,644 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 14 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
9,519 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 37K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.3 time last year, on average.
51 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 Sterling last year.
Find it
Sterling Public Library, 1183 Plainfield Pike, Sterling.
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 $1.72 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Sterling cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $88K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $152K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $88K 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 1,788 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Sterling ranks 4th of 5 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 |
| Coventry | Coventry Public Library | 5.1 | 55 | C− |
| Foster | Foster Public Library | 4.5 | 39 | C+ |
| Sterling | Sterling Public Library fine-free | 2.6 | 13 | D |
| Plainfield | Aldrich Free Public Library | 1.0 | 23 | 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. Sterling 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 Sterling
Does Sterling have a public library?
Yes. Sterling Public Library, 1183 Plainfield Pike, serves Sterling’s 3,644 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 13 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Sterling Public Library fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Sterling’s library?
It logged 0.9 visits and lent 2.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Sterling’s civic life grade?
D Sterling is ahead of 11% of U.S. towns on civic life, #149 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 Sterling.
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.