Photo: John Phelan · CC BY 4.0Wales’ library logs 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Wales Public Library serves Wales’s 1,807 residents. Last year it lent 2,412 print books and media and logged 1,386 visits.
The short version on Wales’s library
Wales Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Wales Public Library records 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Borrowing is 1.3 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. How it compares ↓
Every town next door borrows more
Wales’s library lends 1.3 items per resident. Each of the three neighboring towns with a library of its own lends more, led by Monson at 3.6. Libraries next door ↓
Open only about 18 hours a week
Wales Public Library keeps short hours: about 18 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Monson Free Library & Reading Room in Monson, next door, is open about 37 hours a week. The building ↓
A small-town library
Wales Public Library serves 1,807 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 ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Wales Public Library offered 16 programs last year, 8.9 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
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 Wales’ civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Wales is ahead of 24% of U.S. towns. Wales’ count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Wales’ 2024 visits are an estimate from one typical week (the survey’s method for libraries that don’t count every visit).
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($67K–$111K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
8 community nonprofits are registered in Wales
4.2 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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.
6.9%
6.9% of Wales’ 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 Wales’ residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Wales Public Library serves 1,807 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
2,412 print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 9,954 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.2 time last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
16 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 Wales last year.
Find it
Wales Public Library, 77 Main St., Wales.
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 Wales? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Wales cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $77K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $39K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $77K 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 439 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Wales ranks 4th of 4 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Wales Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
- 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 Wales
Does Wales have a public library?
Yes. Wales Public Library, 77 Main St., serves Wales’ 1,807 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 18 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Wales Public 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 Wales’ library?
It logged 0.8 visits and lent 1.3 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Wales’ civic life grade?
C− Wales is ahead of 24% 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 Wales.
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.