Photo: Grk1011/Stephen · CC BY-SA 3.0Melrose’s library lends 7.3 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Melrose Public Library serves Melrose’s 29,155 residents. Last year it lent 212K print books and media and logged 84K visits.
What stands out about Melrose’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Melrose’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Melrose is ahead of 34% of U.S. towns, #208 of 283 in Massachusetts. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Melrose’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($100K–$167K) 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 →
83 community nonprofits are registered in Melrose
2.8 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 (17 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.7%
7.7% of Melrose’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 Melrose’s residents live; 2022.
About 3 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 Melrose last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Melrose Public Library serves 29,155 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 74 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
212K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 64K books and other items on the shelves went out about 3.3 times last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
A National Register landmark since 1988
Melrose Public Library, 69 West Emerson St., Melrose.
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 Melrose? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Melrose Public Library
Melrose Public Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Jun 23, 1988. It is significant for its town planning and architecture at the local level. Its architecture is described as Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals and Classical Revival.
The Melrose Public Library is a historic library at 69 W. Emerson Street in Melrose, Massachusetts. The original T-shaped building was built in 1904, and is a two-story Colonial Revival structure faced in brick with limestone trim. It was built with funds contributed by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie to a design by Lynn architect Penn Varney, and features stained glass windows by Wilbur H. Burnham.
More about the building →For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.19 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Melrose cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.4M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3.1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.4M 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 15,510 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Melrose ranks 2nd of 4 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
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. Melrose Public 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 Melrose
Does Melrose have a public library?
Yes. Melrose Public Library, 69 West Emerson St., serves Melrose’s 29,155 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 55 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Melrose 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 Melrose’s library?
It logged 2.9 visits and lent 7.3 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Melrose’s civic life grade?
C Melrose is ahead of 34% of U.S. towns on civic life, #208 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 Melrose.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.