Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Pawtucket’s library lends 1.4 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Pawtucket Public Library serves Pawtucket’s 75,604 residents. Last year it lent 144K books, movies and e-books and logged 122K visits.
Pawtucket’s library, in brief
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, Pawtucket Public Library sits below the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on six. How it compares ↓
The library is a National Register landmark
Sayles, Deborah Cook, Public Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1975. Today’s library there has 42,351 square feet. The building ↓
Federal money pays a real share
1% of the budget comes from federal grants, and 77% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Programs lean toward adults
71% of the 943 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 151 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
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 Pawtucket’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Pawtucket is ahead of 6% of U.S. towns, #36 of 38 in Rhode Island. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Pawtucket’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($51K–$85K) 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.
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 →
175 community nonprofits are registered in Pawtucket
2.3 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: arts & culture.
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 (46 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 11 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
4.3%
4.3% of Pawtucket’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 Pawtucket’s residents live; 2022.
A National Register landmark since 1975
Pawtucket Public Library, 13 Summer Street, Pawtucket.
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 Pawtucket? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Sayles, Deborah Cook, Public Library
Sayles, Deborah Cook, Public Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Dec 6, 1975. It is significant for its art, education, architecture and social history at the national level. Its architecture is described as Greek Revival and Gothic Revival and Beaux Arts.
The Pawtucket Public Library, formerly known as the Deborah Cook Sayles Public Library, is located at 13 Summer Street in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Its main building, designed by Ralph Adams Cram and built in 1899–1902, and was a gift to the city from Pawtucket's first mayor, Frederic Clark Sayles, in memory of his recently deceased wife.
More about the building →Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Pawtucket Public Library serves 75,604 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 38 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
144K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 94K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.1 time last year, on average.
40,244 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 3 kids’ programs 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 Pawtucket last year.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Pawtucket cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.6M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.4M 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 22,607 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Pawtucket ranks 6th of 7 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seekonk | Seekonk Public Library | 10.9 | 57 | B− |
| East Providence | East Providence Public Library fine-free | 6.1 | 63 | C |
| North Providence | Mayor Salvatore Mancini Union Free Library fine-free | 4.9 | 55 | D |
| Attleboro | Attleboro Public Library fine-free | 3.3 | 53 | C− |
| Providence | Providence Public Library | 2.6 | 50 | C+ |
| Pawtucket | Pawtucket Public Library fine-free | 1.9 | 63 | D |
| Central Falls | Adams Public Library | 0.2 | 34 | 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.
- 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 Pawtucket
Does Pawtucket have a public library?
Yes. Pawtucket Public Library, 13 Summer Street, serves Pawtucket’s 75,604 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 63 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Pawtucket 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 Pawtucket’s library?
It logged 1.6 visits and lent 1.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Pawtucket’s civic life grade?
D Pawtucket is ahead of 6% of U.S. towns on civic life, #36 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 Pawtucket.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.