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South Weymouth, MassachusettsPhoto: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0
Weymouth Public Libraries

Weymouth Town’s library logs 4.2 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size

Weymouth Public Libraries serves Weymouth Town’s 57,410 residents from 2 locations. Last year it lent 265K print books and media and logged 243K visits.

46 Broad St., Weymouth 02188 · about 76 hours a week
C+Civic lifeAhead of 41% of U.S. towns · #186 of 283 in Massachusetts. Library visits, nonprofits and volunteering.
Borrowed a year
265K
4.6 per resident
Visits a year
243K
4.2 per resident · Above typical (2.6)
Programs & events
699
about 13 a week · 14K attended
Cardholders
30%
17,142 cards
Open
76 hrs
a week

What stands out about Weymouth Town’s library

Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.

Civic life grade

What’s behind Weymouth Town’s civic life grade

On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Weymouth Town is ahead of 41% of U.S. towns, #186 of 283 in Massachusetts. Library visits hold the grade up; Weymouth Town’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.

C+
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Weymouth Town’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 41%
FewerMore
Massachusetts towns we grade (283)Ahead of 34%
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $77K–$128K (6,727)Ahead of 43%

Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($77K–$128K) 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.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B. The volunteering share is a 2022 estimate from Facebook users aged 25–44.

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 →

Places to belong

156 community nonprofits are registered in Weymouth Town

2.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture120.21 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation290.50 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans290.50 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services140.24 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education220.38 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.43
Health130.22 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.16
Environment & animals110.19 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.17
Other260.44 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.47

Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (16 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 8 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.

Volunteering

7.2%

7.2% of Weymouth Town’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 Weymouth Town’s residents live; 2022.

How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 7 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 4.2 visits · typical 2.6Higher than 79%
Borrowing per resident 4.6 print items · typical 3.7Higher than 59%
Kids’ borrowing 2.5 kids’ items · typical 1.7Higher than 67%
Program attendance 0.2 attendees · typical 0.3Lower than 64%
Programs offered 12.2 per 1,000 residents · typical 14Lower than 59%
Cardholders 30% of residents · typical 39%Lower than 70%
Spending $45 per resident · typical $40Higher than 56%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Ranked in MA#122Most-used librariesof 263 towns
#185Most library borrowingof 268 towns
#137Best libraries for kidsof 268 towns
Size group

Weymouth Public Libraries serves 57,410 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.

A year at the library

Every hour the doors are open, about 56 items go out

Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.

243K
visits
4.2 per resident
265K
loans, print + digital
4.6 per resident
699
programs & events
14K attended
17K
library cards
30% of people served
Every open hour56items borrowed
Every week267people at a program
Every week4,664visits
24 staff (full-time equivalent)41 public computers110K books & media on the shelves
What people borrow

More than half the print loans are kids’ books

265K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.

265Kloans
Books & media (adults) 45%Kids’ books & media 55%
How hard the shelves work
2.4×

Each of the 110K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.4 times last year, on average.

From your couch

Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.

Kids & programs

About 5 kids’ programs a week

Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.

Schools in Weymouth Town →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–5179
Ages 6–1170
Teens130
Adults306
All ages14
Little ones
3.4

story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.

Kids’ books
15

children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Weymouth Town last year.

14K
people at programs
699
programs
The buildings

2 places to borrow in Weymouth Town

Weymouth Public Libraries, 46 Broad St., Weymouth.

76
hours open a week
50,000
square feet
110K
books & media
With a card

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 Weymouth Town? The Handbook →

Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.

Other libraries in Weymouth Town

What your card is worth

For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.52 worth

Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Weymouth Town cardholder borrows.

In a month I’d use…
Books$17 each
1
Kids’ books$12 each
1
E-books & audio$15 each
0
Movies & music$4 each
0
Programs & classes$10 a program
0
Computer & Wi-Fi$3 a session
0
Your card saves you about
$348
a year at retail prices · $29 a month

Who pays for it
$45 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.6M.

Local taxes 92%State 7%Gifts & other 1%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $3.9M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.6M 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 17,142 cardholders ÷ 12.

Next door

Libraries next door

Weymouth Town ranks 4th of 5 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.

12+ loans per resident8–124–8Under 4No library / shared system
TownLibraryLoans per residentHoursCivic life
HinghamHingham Public Library fine-free11.752A
QuincyThomas Crane Public Library fine-free6.1—C+
Braintree TownThayer Public Library fine-free6.057C+
Weymouth TownWeymouth Public Libraries fine-free4.676C+
HullHull Public Library2.540B−

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).

How to read these numbers

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 Weymouth Town

Does Weymouth Town have a public library?

Yes. Weymouth Public Libraries, 46 Broad St., serves Weymouth Town’s 57,410 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 76 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Weymouth 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 Weymouth Town’s library?

It logged 4.2 visits and lent 4.6 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.

What is Weymouth Town’s civic life grade?

C+ Weymouth Town is ahead of 41% of U.S. towns on civic life, #186 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 Weymouth Town.

Town Square →
Start a conversation

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.