Photo: The original uploader was Bobak at English Wikipedia. · CC BY-SA 2.5Nantucket’s library runs 96 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Nantucket Atheneum serves Nantucket’s 14,421 residents. Last year it lent 79K print books and media and logged 67K visits.
What Nantucket’s library is like
Four times the programs of a typical library its size
Nantucket Atheneum ran 1,380 programs last year, about 27 a week. That’s 96 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24. People show up: 25,000 attended. Kids & programs ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 59% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 76% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
75% of Nantucket carry a library card
10,816 cards for 14,421 people, or 75%. At the typical library serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, it’s 40%. How it compares ↓
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 Nantucket’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Nantucket is ahead of 59% of U.S. towns, #142 of 283 in Massachusetts. Nantucket’s count of community nonprofits holds 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 →
140 community nonprofits are registered in Nantucket
9.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: arts & culture.
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 (14 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
3.5%
3.5% of Nantucket’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 Nantucket’s residents live; 2022.
About 9 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 Nantucket last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Nantucket Atheneum serves 14,421 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 38 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
79K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 54K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.5 time last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card.
Find it
Nantucket Atheneum, 1 India Street, Nantucket.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting.
New in Nantucket? 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 $1.70 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Nantucket cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $828K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $828K 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 10,816 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Nantucket Atheneum 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 Nantucket
Does Nantucket have a public library?
Yes. Nantucket Atheneum, 1 India Street, serves Nantucket’s 14,421 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 41 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Nantucket Atheneum fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Nantucket’s library?
It logged 4.6 visits and lent 5.5 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Nantucket’s civic life grade?
B Nantucket is ahead of 59% of U.S. towns on civic life, #142 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 Nantucket.
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.