Photo: Ken Gallager · CC BY-SA 4.0Sutton’s library lends 4.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Sutton Free Library serves Sutton’s 2,019 residents. Last year it lent 14K books, movies and e-books and logged 4,112 visits.
The short version on Sutton’s library
A small-town library
Sutton Free Library serves 2,019 residents with about 2 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 ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 71% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 80% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Open only about 21 hours a week
Sutton Free Library keeps short hours: about 21 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Newbury Public Library in Newbury, next door, is open about 41 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 Sutton’s civic life grade
On library visits and community nonprofits, Sutton is ahead of 60% of U.S. towns. Sutton is graded on two of the three inputs. Sutton’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull 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 →
16 community nonprofits are registered in Sutton
7.0 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (5 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
35 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.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Sutton last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Sutton Free Library serves 2,019 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 13 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
14K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 12K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.8 time last year, on average.
3,914 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Sutton Free Library, 5 Corporation Hill Rd, Sutton Mills.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Sutton? 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 $2.02 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Sutton cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $98K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $198K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $98K 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 866 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Sutton ranks 4th of 5 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New London | Tracy Memorial Library fine-free | 15.3 | 41 | A− |
| Newbury | Newbury Public Library fine-free | 11.9 | 41 | A |
| Warner | Pillsbury Free Library fine-free | 7.2 | 33 | A− |
| Sutton | Sutton Free Library fine-free | 6.9 | 21 | B |
| Wilmot | Wilmot Public Library fine-free | 6.3 | 23 | 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.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Sutton
Does Sutton have a public library?
Yes. Sutton Free Library, 5 Corporation Hill Rd, serves Sutton’s 2,019 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 21 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Sutton Free 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 Sutton’s library?
It logged 2.0 visits and lent 6.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Sutton’s civic life grade?
B Sutton is ahead of 60% 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 Sutton.
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.