Photo: User:Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0Union’s library logs 1.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Union Free Public Library serves Union’s 797 residents. Last year it lent 3,898 books, movies and e-books and logged 1,038 visits.
Union’s library, in brief
Open only about 14 hours a week
Union Free Public Library keeps short hours: about 14 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Stafford Library in Stafford, next door, is open about 49 hours a week. The building ↓
A small-town library
Union Free Public Library serves 797 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 ↓
Union out-borrows every town next door
At 4.9 loans per resident, Union leads the four towns here. The closest is Stafford, at 4.9. Libraries next door ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Union Free Public Library holds 21,000 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Union’s civic life grade
Union isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Union Free Public Library serves 797 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 5 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
3,898 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 21K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.1 time last year, on average.
1,492 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
13 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 Union last year.
Find it
Union Free Public Library, 979 Buckley Highway, Union.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Union? 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 $1.22 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Union cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $52K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $63K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $52K 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 298 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Union borrows the most per resident of the 4 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Union | Union Free Public Library | 4.9 | 14 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Stafford | Stafford Library | 4.9 | 49 | B+ |
| Ashford | Babcock Library fine-free | 3.3 | 36 | B− |
| Woodstock | Howard W. Bracken Memorial Library fine-free | 1.0 | 17 | B |
| Eastford | Eastford Public Library | — | — | B |
| Willington | Willington Public Library | — | — | 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 Union
Does Union have a public library?
Yes. Union Free Public Library, 979 Buckley Highway, serves Union’s 797 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 14 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Union 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 Union’s library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 4.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Union’s civic life grade?
Union isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Union.
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.