Photo: Pi.1415926535 · CC BY-SA 4.0Foster’s library logs 1.6 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Libraries of Foster serves Foster’s 4,469 residents from 2 locations. Last year it lent 20K books, movies and e-books and logged 7,235 visits.
What Foster’s library is like
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Libraries of Foster charges late fines on some overdue items. Three of the five libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Libraries of Foster holds 34,000 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.
What’s behind Foster’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Foster is ahead of 43% of U.S. towns, #19 of 38 in Rhode Island. Foster’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 →
38 community nonprofits are registered in Foster
8.4 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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.3%
6.3% of Foster’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.4% in the typical Rhode Island 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 Foster’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Libraries of Foster serves 4,469 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 6 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
20K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 34K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
6,611 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 Foster last year.
2 places to borrow in Foster
Foster Public Library, 184 Howard Hill Road, Foster.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Foster? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Foster
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.42 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Foster cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $233K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $331K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $233K 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
Foster ranks 4th of 6 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
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 Foster
Does Foster have a public library?
Yes. Libraries of Foster, 184 Howard Hill Road, serves Foster’s 4,469 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 39 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Libraries of Foster 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 Foster’s library?
It logged 1.6 visits and lent 4.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Foster’s civic life grade?
C+ Foster is ahead of 43% of U.S. towns on civic life, #19 of 38 in Rhode Island. 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 Foster.
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.