Photo: Original uploader was LymanSchool at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Warren’s library logs 1.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Warren Public Library serves Warren’s 2,484 residents. Last year it lent 8,921 print books and media and logged 3,217 visits.
Warren’s library, in brief
A small-town library
Warren Public Library serves 2,484 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 23 hours a week. 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
Warren Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. All four libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
The library is a National Register landmark
Warren Public Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2000. Today’s library there has 2,835 square feet. The buildings ↓
Programs lean toward adults
50% of the 112 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 53 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Warren Public Library holds 24,000 books and other items, but the average item went out less than once last year. What people borrow ↓
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 Warren’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Warren is ahead of 65% of U.S. towns, #119 of 283 in Massachusetts. Warren is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Warren’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
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 →
18 community nonprofits are registered in Warren
3.6 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.5%
9.5% of Warren’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 Warren’s residents live; 2022.
A National Register landmark since 2000
Warren Public Library, 934 Main St., Warren.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Warren? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Warren Public Library
Warren Public Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Mar 13, 2000. It is significant for its architecture, town planning and education at the local level. Its architecture is described as Romanesque.
The Warren Public Library is the public library of Warren, Massachusetts, It is located at 934 Main Street, in a Richardsonial Romanesque building designed by Amos P. Cutting and built in 1889. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.
More about the building →Other libraries in Warren
Below most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Warren Public Library serves 2,484 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 7 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
8,921 print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 24K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 1 kids’ program 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 Warren last year.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.22 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Warren cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $120K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $146K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $120K 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 1,012 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Warren ranks 3rd of 5 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Brookfield | Merriam-Gilbert Public Library fine-free | 8.2 | 29 | A− |
| Palmer Town | Palmer Public Library fine-free | 6.5 | 42 | C+ |
| Warren | Warren Public Library | 3.6 | 23 | B+ |
| Brimfield | Brimfield Public Library fine-free | 3.4 | 26 | C+ |
| Ware | Young Men's Library Association fine-free | 2.7 | 32 | C− |
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 Warren
Does Warren have a public library?
Yes. Warren Public Library, 934 Main St., serves Warren’s 2,484 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 23 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Warren 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 Warren’s library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 3.6 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Warren’s civic life grade?
B+ Warren is ahead of 65% of U.S. towns on civic life, #119 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 Warren.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.