Photo: Botteville · CC BY-SA 3.0Danvers’ library logs 10 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Peabody Institute Library serves 27,781 people in and around Danvers. Last year it lent 206K print books and media and logged 285K visits.
What Danvers’s library is like
People come to Peabody Institute Library a lot
Peabody Institute Library logs 10 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, more than 99% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing is above typical too, at 7.4 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 56% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 85% of similar-size libraries. 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 Danvers’ civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Danvers is ahead of 65% of U.S. towns, #120 of 283 in Massachusetts. Library visits hold the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
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 →
112 community nonprofits are registered in Danvers
4.0 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 (11 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 4 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.2%
6.2% of Danvers’ 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 Danvers’ residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 63 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Peabody Institute Library serves 27,781 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
206K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 84K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.4 times last year, on average.
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.
Find it
Peabody Institute Library, 15 Sylvan St., Danvers.
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 Danvers? 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 $1.89 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Danvers cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.6M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3.1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.6M 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 13,323 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Danvers ranks 4th of 6 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Topsfield | Topsfield Town Library fine-free | 14.1 | 41 | A+ |
| Beverly | Beverly Public Library fine-free | 8.6 | — | B+ |
| Middleton | Flint Public Library fine-free | 7.9 | 46 | B− |
| Danvers | Peabody Institute Library fine-free | 7.4 | 63 | B |
| Salem | Salem Public Library fine-free | 5.9 | 64 | C+ |
| Peabody | Peabody Institute Library fine-free | 3.0 | — | C |
| Wenham | None of its own | — | — | A− |
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. Peabody Institute Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
- 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 Danvers
Does Danvers have a public library?
Yes. Peabody Institute Library, 15 Sylvan St., serves 27,781 people in and around Danvers (the survey’s count) and is open about 63 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Peabody Institute 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 Danvers’ library?
It logged 10.2 visits and lent 7.4 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Danvers’ civic life grade?
B Danvers is ahead of 65% of U.S. towns on civic life, #120 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 Danvers.
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.