Photo: John Phelan · CC BY 3.0Peru’s library logs 1.1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Peru Library serves Peru’s 803 residents. Last year it lent 1,583 print books and media and logged 850 visits.
What Peru’s library is like
Open only about 12 hours a week
Peru Library keeps short hours: about 12 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving under 2,500 people, Peru Library sits below the middle on all six per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on four. How it compares ↓
A small-town library
Peru Library serves 803 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 ↓
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 Peru’s civic life grade
Peru 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 →
Below most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Peru Library serves 803 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 3 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
1,583 print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 7,899 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.2 time last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card.
30 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.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Peru last year.
Find it
Peru Library, 6 W. Main Road, Peru.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting.
New in Peru? 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 $1.19 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Peru cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $23K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $27K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $23K 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 341 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Peru ranks 3rd of 5 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hinsdale | Hinsdale Public Library fine-free | 4.4 | 23 | 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+ |
| Cummington | Bryant Free Library fine-free | 0.8 | 9 | — under 1,000 residents |
| 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 Peru
Does Peru have a public library?
Yes. Peru Library, 6 W. Main Road, serves Peru’s 803 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 12 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Peru Library 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 Peru’s library?
It logged 1.1 visits and lent 2.0 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Peru’s civic life grade?
Peru 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 Peru.
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.