Photo: John Phelan · CC BY 3.0Walpole’s library lends 6.3 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Walpole Public Library serves Walpole’s 26,277 residents. Last year it lent 165K print books and media and drew 18K people to its programs.
What Walpole’s library is like
Every town next door borrows more
Walpole’s library lends 6.3 items per resident. Each of the seven neighboring towns with a library of its own lends more, led by Westwood at 14. Libraries next door ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Walpole Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. Five of the seven 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.
What’s behind Walpole’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Walpole is ahead of 88% of U.S. towns, #46 of 283 in Massachusetts. Its library’s 2024 visits weren’t reported, so Walpole is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups ranks highest.
The survey’s stand-in for Walpole’s 2024 visits carries forward a 2023 figure, so it is left out.
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 →
116 community nonprofits are registered in Walpole
4.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (6 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
13.5%
13.5% of Walpole’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 Walpole’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 Walpole last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 6 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Walpole Public Library serves 26,277 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 58 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Not reported for 2024: visits. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
165K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 93K 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.
Find it
Walpole Public Library, 143 School St., Walpole.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Walpole? 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 Walpole cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1M 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 9,560 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Walpole ranks 8th of 8 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Westwood | Westwood Public Library fine-free | 14.0 | 89 | B+ |
| Dover | Dover Town Library fine-free | 12.5 | 51 | A− |
| Medfield | Medfield Memorial Library fine-free | 11.1 | 51 | A− |
| Sharon | Sharon Public Library | 10.9 | 51 | C |
| Norwood | Morrill Memorial Library fine-free | 8.1 | 63 | C+ |
| Norfolk | Franklin Public Library | 8.1 | 60 | B+ |
| Foxborough | Boyden Library fine-free | 7.1 | 53 | B |
| Walpole | Walpole Public Library | 6.3 | 55 | 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.
- Not reported for 2024: visits. Walpole Public Library didn’t report visits; the survey’s estimate carries forward its 2023 figure, so we leave it out and never rank it.
- 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 Walpole
Does Walpole have a public library?
Yes. Walpole Public Library, 143 School St., serves Walpole’s 26,277 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 55 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Walpole Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Walpole’s library?
It lent 6.3 items per resident in 2024 (print) and ran 468 programs that drew 17,749 people. Visits weren’t reported for 2024.
What is Walpole’s civic life grade?
A Walpole is ahead of 88% of U.S. towns on civic life, #46 of 283 in Massachusetts. 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 Walpole.
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.