Photo: ScotteKane · CC BY-SA 4.0Turners Falls’ library lends 9.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Montague Public Libraries serves 8,463 people in and around Turners Falls. Last year it lent 84K print books and media and logged 27K visits.
What Turners Falls’s library is like
Open about 75 hours a week
Montague Public Libraries is open about 75 hours a week, averaged over the year. The building ↓
Turners Falls is a town of borrowers
Montague Public Libraries lends 9.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, more than 91% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Montague Public Libraries serves more than Turners Falls
The library’s service area covers 8,463 people in and around Turners Falls, so its per-resident numbers are measured against that wider population. 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 Turners Falls’ civic life grade
Turners Falls 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
84K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 47K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.8 times last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Montague Public Libraries serves 8,463 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 17 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
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.
Find it
Montague Public Libraries, 201 Avenue A, Turners Falls.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Turners Falls? 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 $2.40 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Turners Falls cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $578K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $578K 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 4,066 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Turners Falls ranks 2nd of 4 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greenfield | Greenfield Public Library fine-free | 10.7 | 46 | A+ |
| Turners Falls | Montague Public Libraries fine-free | 9.9 | 75 | — graded as part of its town |
| Montague | Montague Public Libraries fine-free | 9.9 | 75 | A− |
| Gill | Slate Memorial Library fine-free | 1.2 | 18 | D− |
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 Turners Falls
Does Turners Falls have a public library?
Yes. Montague Public Libraries, 201 Avenue A, serves 8,463 people in and around Turners Falls (the survey’s count) and is open about 75 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Montague Public Libraries 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 Turners Falls’ library?
It logged 3.2 visits and lent 9.9 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Turners Falls’ civic life grade?
Turners Falls 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 Turners Falls.
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.