Photo: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 4.0Pelham’s library lends 19 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Pelham Library serves Pelham’s 1,266 residents. Last year it lent 24K print books and media and logged 10K visits.
Pelham’s library, in brief
More library cards than residents
3,243 cards for 1,266 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 61% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 98% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 53 items per child in Pelham last year. Kids & programs ↓
Pelham is a town of borrowers
Pelham Library lends 19 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries serving under 2,500 people, more than 97% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Four times the programs of a typical library its size
Pelham Library ran 299 programs last year, about 6 a week. That’s 236 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60. People show up: 3,727 attended. Kids & programs ↓
Pelham out-borrows every town next door
At 19 loans per resident, Pelham leads the five towns here. The closest is Shutesbury, at 14. Libraries next door ↓
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 Pelham’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Pelham is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Pelham’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
Pelham has few registered community nonprofits
0.5 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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 (0 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
14.8%
14.8% of Pelham’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 Pelham’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 Pelham last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Pelham Library serves 1,266 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 19 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
24K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 35K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.7 time last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Pelham Library, 2 South Valley Road, Pelham.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Pelham? 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 $2.53 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Pelham cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $152K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $383K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $152K 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 3,243 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Pelham borrows the most per resident of the 5 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pelham | Pelham Library fine-free | 19.3 | 25 | B+ |
| Shutesbury | M. N. Spear Memorial Library fine-free | 14.5 | 27 | A |
| New Salem | New Salem Public Library fine-free | 11.1 | 20 | A |
| Amherst Town | Jones Library, Inc. fine-free | 8.8 | 81 | A− |
| Belchertown | Clapp Memorial Library fine-free | 5.5 | 44 | A− |
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 Pelham
Does Pelham have a public library?
Yes. Pelham Library, 2 South Valley Road, serves Pelham’s 1,266 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 25 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Pelham 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 Pelham’s library?
It logged 8.2 visits and lent 19.3 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Pelham’s civic life grade?
B+ Pelham is ahead of 70% 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 Pelham.
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.