Photo: John Phelan · CC BY 3.0Plainfield’s library lends 8.4 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Shaw Memorial Library serves Plainfield’s 629 residents. Last year it lent 5,304 print books and media and logged 2,719 visits.
What Plainfield’s library is like
Open only about 12 hours a week
Shaw Memorial Library keeps short hours: about 12 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
A small-town library
Shaw Memorial Library serves 629 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 ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Shaw Memorial Library charges late fines on some overdue items. Three of the four libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. 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 Plainfield’s civic life grade
Plainfield 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 →
Books and media off the shelf
5,304 print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 13K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Shaw Memorial Library serves 629 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 9 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
45 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 Plainfield last year.
Find it
Shaw Memorial Library, 312 Main Street, Plainfield.
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 $3.01 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Plainfield cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $29K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $88K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $29K 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 249 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Plainfield ranks 2nd of 4 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashfield | Belding Memorial Library fine-free | 17.1 | 18 | A |
| Plainfield | Shaw Memorial Library | 8.4 | 12 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Windsor | Windsor Free Public Library fine-free | 8.2 | 10 | — graded with its twin city |
| Cummington | Bryant Free Library fine-free | 0.8 | 9 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Savoy | Savoy Hollow Library | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Hawley | 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 Plainfield
Does Plainfield have a public library?
Yes. Shaw Memorial Library, 312 Main Street, serves Plainfield’s 629 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 12 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Shaw Memorial Library fine-free?
It charges late fines on some overdue items (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Plainfield’s library?
It logged 4.3 visits and lent 8.4 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Plainfield’s civic life grade?
Plainfield 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 Plainfield.
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.