Photo: John Phelan · CC BY 3.0Avon’s library logs 6.1 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Avon Public Library serves Avon’s 4,735 residents. Last year it lent 33K print books and media and logged 29K visits.
What Avon’s library is like
Avon out-borrows every town next door
At 7 loans per resident, Avon leads the four towns here. The closest is Stoughton, at 3.7. Libraries next door ↓
Avon invests in its library
Avon Public Library spends $101 per resident a year, about twice the typical $43 for a library its size. Almost all of it (97%) comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
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 Avon’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Avon is ahead of 32% of U.S. towns, #212 of 283 in Massachusetts. Library visits hold the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($98K–$163K) 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 →
12 community nonprofits are registered in Avon
2.5 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 (7 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
4.8%
4.8% of Avon’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.9% in the typical Massachusetts 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 Avon’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 16 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Avon Public Library serves 4,735 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Books and media off the shelf
33K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 29K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.2 time last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
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 Avon last year.
Find it
Avon Public Library, 280 West Main St., Avon.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Avon? 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 $1.11 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Avon cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $477K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $529K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $477K 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 1,426 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Avon 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avon | Avon Public Library fine-free | 7.0 | 40 | C |
| Stoughton | Stoughton Public Library fine-free | 3.7 | 59 | C− |
| Randolph Town | Turner Free Library fine-free | 3.3 | 67 | C− |
| Holbrook | Holbrook Public Library fine-free | 3.2 | 39 | 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.
- Digital loans not reported. Massachusetts libraries often don’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
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 Avon
Does Avon have a public library?
Yes. Avon Public Library, 280 West Main St., serves Avon’s 4,735 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Avon Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks and research databases with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Avon’s library?
It logged 6.1 visits and lent 7.0 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Avon’s civic life grade?
C Avon is ahead of 32% of U.S. towns on civic life, #212 of 283 in Massachusetts. 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 Avon.
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.