Photo: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 4.0Norwell’s library lends 13 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Norwell Public Library serves Norwell’s 11,280 residents. Last year it lent 142K print books and media and logged 92K visits.
What Norwell’s library is like
Norwell uses its library more than almost any town its size
Norwell Public Library logs 8.2 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, and lends 13 print items per resident against a typical 3.9. On both counts it beats 94% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 58% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 97% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 25 items per child in Norwell last year. Kids & programs ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Norwell Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. Five of the six libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Norwell out-borrows every town next door
At 12.6 loans per resident, Norwell leads the seven towns here. The closest is Hingham, at 11.7. Libraries next door ↓
Norwell invests in its library
Norwell Public Library spends $87 per resident a year, about twice the typical $43 for a library its size. All of it comes from local taxes. 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.
What’s behind Norwell’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Norwell is ahead of 95% of U.S. towns, #21 of 283 in Massachusetts. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; library visits rank highest.
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 →
71 community nonprofits are registered in Norwell
6.3 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (4 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.
11.2%
11.2% of Norwell’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 Norwell’s residents live; 2022.
About 4 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 Norwell 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.
Norwell Public Library serves 11,280 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 55 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
142K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 50K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.8 times last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Norwell Public Library, 64 South St., Norwell.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Norwell? 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 $2.14 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Norwell cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $986K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $986K budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
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 5,612 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Norwell borrows the most per resident of the 7 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norwell | Norwell Public Library | 12.6 | 50 | A |
| Hingham | Hingham Public Library fine-free | 11.7 | 52 | A |
| Scituate | Scituate Town Library fine-free | 10.8 | 62 | A |
| Marshfield | Ventress Memorial Library fine-free | 6.3 | 59 | A− |
| Pembroke | Pembroke Public Library fine-free | 5.5 | 59 | A− |
| Hanover | John Curtis Free Library | 5.4 | 46 | B+ |
| Rockland | Rockland Memorial Library fine-free | 3.7 | 49 | C |
| North Pembroke | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Marshfield Hills | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
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 Norwell
Does Norwell have a public library?
Yes. Norwell Public Library, 64 South St., serves Norwell’s 11,280 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Norwell Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Norwell’s library?
It logged 8.2 visits and lent 12.6 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Norwell’s civic life grade?
A Norwell is ahead of 95% of U.S. towns on civic life, #21 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 Norwell.
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.