Photo: User:Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0Suffield’s library logs 5 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Kent Memorial Library serves Suffield’s 15,560 residents. Last year it lent 97K books, movies and e-books and logged 77K visits.
What’s behind Suffield’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Suffield is ahead of 72% of U.S. towns, #44 of 155 in Connecticut. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; library visits rank highest.
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 →
67 community nonprofits are registered in Suffield
4.3 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.
8.3%
8.3% of Suffield’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 Suffield’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Kent Memorial Library serves 15,560 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 36 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
97K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 54K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.5 times last year, on average.
14,676 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 3 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 Suffield last year.
Find it
Kent Memorial Library, 50 North Main St., Suffield.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Suffield? 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 $2.55 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Suffield cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $564K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $564K 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 5,135 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Suffield ranks 3rd of 9 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Longmeadow | Richard Salter Storrs Library fine-free | 9.3 | 56 | A |
| Granby | Granby Public Library fine-free | 8.4 | 45 | B+ |
| Suffield | Kent Memorial Library | 6.3 | 52 | B+ |
| Southwick | Southwick Public Library fine-free | 6.2 | 41 | B− |
| East Granby | East Granby Public Library fine-free | 6.0 | 46 | A |
| Windsor Locks | Windsor Locks Public Library fine-free | 5.1 | 48 | C+ |
| Agawam Town | Agawam Public Library fine-free | 5.0 | 59 | C |
| Enfield | Enfield Public Library fine-free | 4.9 | 60 | C− |
| Thompsonville | Pearl Street Branch Library fine-free | 4.9 | 46 | — 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 Suffield
Does Suffield have a public library?
Yes. Kent Memorial Library, 50 North Main St., serves Suffield’s 15,560 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 52 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Kent Memorial 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 Suffield’s library?
It logged 5.0 visits and lent 6.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Suffield’s civic life grade?
B+ Suffield is ahead of 72% of U.S. towns on civic life, #44 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 Suffield.
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.