Photo: Craig Michaud at English Wikipedia · CC BY 3.0Mason’s library lends 6.2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Mason Public Library serves Mason’s 1,459 residents. Last year it lent 11K books, movies and e-books and logged 6,498 visits.
The short version on Mason’s library
Above typical on every measure
Against libraries serving under 2,500 people, Mason Public Library is above the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, with three in the top 30%. No single number stands out, and none lags far behind. How it compares ↓
A small-town library
Mason Public Library serves 1,459 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 ↓
Mason out-borrows every town next door
At 7.8 loans per resident, Mason leads the five towns here. The closest is Wilton, at 7.4. Libraries next door ↓
Open only about 20 hours a week
Mason Public Library keeps short hours: about 20 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Brookline Public Library in Brookline, next door, is open about 40 hours a week. The building ↓
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 Mason’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Mason is ahead of 65% of U.S. towns. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Mason’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 →
5 community nonprofits are registered in Mason
3.5 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 (0 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
8.9%
8.9% of Mason’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.9% in the typical New Hampshire 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 Mason’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Mason Public Library serves 1,459 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 11 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Not reported for 2024: funding. 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
11K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 13K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.7 time last year, on average.
2,228 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. 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 Mason last year.
Find it
Mason Public Library, 16 Darling Hill Road, Mason.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Mason? 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 $2.80 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Mason cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $67K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $189K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $67K 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 935 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Mason borrows the most per resident of the 5 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mason | Mason Public Library fine-free | 7.8 | 20 | B+ |
| Wilton | Wilton Public & Gregg Free Library fine-free | 7.4 | 36 | B+ |
| Brookline | Brookline Public Library | 6.9 | 40 | B+ |
| Greenville | Chamberlin Free Public Library fine-free | 3.1 | 38 | B− |
| New Ipswich | New Ipswich Library fine-free | 2.5 | 24 | D |
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: funding. The survey filled the figure with its own estimate, so it is left out.
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 Mason
Does Mason have a public library?
Yes. Mason Public Library, 16 Darling Hill Road, serves Mason’s 1,459 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 20 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Mason 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 Mason’s library?
It logged 4.5 visits and lent 7.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Mason’s civic life grade?
B+ Mason is ahead of 65% 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 Mason.
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.