Photo: Ammodramus · Public domainSpalding’s library runs 9.4 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60 for libraries its size
Spalding Public Library serves Spalding’s 425 residents. Last year it lent 2,561 books, movies and e-books and logged 884 visits.
What Spalding’s library is like
Open only about 10 hours a week
Spalding Public Library keeps short hours: about 10 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
A small-town library
Spalding Public Library serves 425 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
Spalding Public Library offered 4 programs last year, 9.4 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
43% of borrowing happens on a screen
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 43% of loans, more per resident than at 82% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 57%. 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 Spalding’s civic life grade
Spalding 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 →
43% of borrowing is digital
2,561 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 9,376 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.2 time last year, on average.
1,105 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Spalding Public Library serves 425 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 5 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
4 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.
Find it
Spalding Public Library, 159 West Saint Joseph Street, Spalding.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Spalding? 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 $3.36 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Spalding cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $12K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $40K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $12K 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 273 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Spalding Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Spalding
Does Spalding have a public library?
Yes. Spalding Public Library, 159 West Saint Joseph Street, serves Spalding’s 425 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 10 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Spalding 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 Spalding’s library?
It logged 2.1 visits and lent 6.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Spalding’s civic life grade?
Spalding 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 Spalding.
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.