Photo: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 3.0Middlefield’s library runs 155 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60 for libraries its size
Middlefield Public Library serves Middlefield’s 388 residents. Last year it lent 1,097 print books and media and logged 1,682 visits.
What Middlefield’s library is like
A small-town library
Middlefield Public Library serves 388 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 ↓
Open only about 19 hours a week
Middlefield Public Library keeps short hours: about 19 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 19% of the people Middlefield Public Library serves have a library card, against a typical 54% for its size. How it compares ↓
Massachusetts pays a big share
25% of the budget comes from the state, and 75% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Middlefield’s civic life grade
Middlefield isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Middlefield Public Library serves 388 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 1 item goes out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
1,097 print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 5,954 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.2 time last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
60 programs a year
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
Middlefield Public Library, 188 Skyline Trail, Middlefield.
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 Middlefield? 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 $1.46 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Middlefield cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $15K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $22K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $15K 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 75 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Middlefield ranks 3rd of 5 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Becket | Becket Athenaeum, Inc. fine-free | 3.0 | 25 | A |
| Chester | Hamilton Memorial Library fine-free | 2.9 | 17 | B |
| Middlefield | Middlefield Public Library fine-free | 2.8 | 19 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Peru | Peru Library fine-free | 2.0 | 12 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Worthington | Worthington Library fine-free | 1.9 | 16 | B+ |
| Washington | None of its own | — | — | — 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.
- 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 Middlefield
Does Middlefield have a public library?
Yes. Middlefield Public Library, 188 Skyline Trail, serves Middlefield’s 388 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 19 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Middlefield 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 Middlefield’s library?
It logged 4.3 visits and lent 2.8 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Middlefield’s civic life grade?
Middlefield isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Middlefield.
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.