Photo: ToddC4176 · CC BY-SA 3.0Egremont’s library logs 0.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Egremont Free Library serves Egremont’s 1,374 residents. Last year it lent 2,567 print books and media and logged 1,252 visits.
What Egremont’s library is like
Every town next door borrows more
Egremont’s library lends 1.9 items per resident. Each of the three neighboring towns with a library of its own lends more, led by Great Barrington at 13. Libraries next door ↓
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving under 2,500 people, Egremont Free Library sits below the middle on all six per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on six. How it compares ↓
Open only about 14 hours a week
Egremont Free Library keeps short hours: about 14 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Mason Library in Great Barrington, next door, is open about 51 hours a week. The building ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Egremont Free Library offered 4 programs last year, 2.9 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
A small-town library
Egremont Free Library serves 1,374 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 ↓
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 Egremont’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Egremont is ahead of 62% of U.S. towns. Egremont’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull 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 →
14 community nonprofits are registered in Egremont
11.2 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.2%
9.2% of Egremont’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 Egremont’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Egremont Free Library serves 1,374 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 3 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
2,567 print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 6,749 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
4 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Egremont last year.
Find it
Egremont Free Library, 1 Button Ball Lane, South Egremont.
No late fees. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting.
New in Egremont? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Egremont cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $84K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $42K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $84K 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 455 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Egremont ranks 4th of 4 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Barrington | Mason Library fine-free | 12.5 | 51 | A |
| Sheffield | Bushnell-Sage Library fine-free | 12.2 | 38 | A |
| Mount Washington | Mount Washington Public Library fine-free | 2.9 | 10 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Egremont | Egremont Free Library fine-free | 1.9 | 14 | B |
| Alford | Alford Free Public Library | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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. Egremont Free 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 Egremont
Does Egremont have a public library?
Yes. Egremont Free Library, 1 Button Ball Lane, serves Egremont’s 1,374 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 14 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Egremont Free Library fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Egremont’s library?
It logged 0.9 visits and lent 1.9 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Egremont’s civic life grade?
B Egremont is ahead of 62% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Egremont.
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.