Photo: Daderot · Public domainWethersfield’s library lends 7.2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Wethersfield Public Library serves Wethersfield’s 27,114 residents. Last year it lent 235K books, movies and e-books and logged 96K visits.
Wethersfield’s library, in brief
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Wethersfield Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. All five libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Most programs are for young children
66% of the 376 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 2.8 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
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 Wethersfield’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Wethersfield is ahead of 39% of U.S. towns, #112 of 155 in Connecticut. Wethersfield’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($95K–$159K) 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 →
123 community nonprofits are registered in Wethersfield
4.5 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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 (18 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 7 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.1%
5.1% of Wethersfield’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 Wethersfield’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Wethersfield Public Library serves 27,114 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 82 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
235K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 102K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.9 times last year, on average.
39,833 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 Wethersfield last year.
Find it
Wethersfield Public Library, 515 Silas Deane Highway, Wethersfield.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Wethersfield? 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 $1.69 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Wethersfield cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.1M 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 11,310 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Wethersfield ranks 4th of 6 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glastonbury | Welles-Turner Memorial Library fine-free | 11.0 | 64 | B− |
| Glastonbury Center | Welles-Turner Memorial Library fine-free | 11.0 | 64 | — graded as part of its town |
| Rocky Hill | Cora J. Belden Library fine-free | 9.9 | 50 | B− |
| Wethersfield | Wethersfield Public Library | 8.7 | 55 | C+ |
| Newington | Lucy Robbins Welles Library fine-free | 8.0 | 52 | C+ |
| East Hartford | East Hartford Public Library fine-free | 1.7 | 55 | D |
| Hartford | None of its own | — | — | 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 Wethersfield
Does Wethersfield have a public library?
Yes. Wethersfield Public Library, 515 Silas Deane Highway, serves Wethersfield’s 27,114 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 55 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Wethersfield 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 Wethersfield’s library?
It logged 3.5 visits and lent 8.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Wethersfield’s civic life grade?
C+ Wethersfield is ahead of 39% of U.S. towns on civic life, #112 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 Wethersfield.
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.