Photo: Ascended Dreamer · CC BY-SA 4.0Barnet’s library logs 1.2 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Barnet Public serves Barnet’s 1,671 residents. Last year it lent 6,477 books, movies and e-books and logged 1,996 visits.
Barnet’s library, in brief
A small-town library
Barnet Public serves 1,671 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 ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
35% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 65%. What your card is worth ↓
Open only about 21 hours a week
Barnet Public keeps short hours: about 21 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Davies Memorial in Waterford, next door, is open about 70 hours a week. The building ↓
Fewer visits than most libraries its size
Barnet Public records 1.2 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people, below 89% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing holds up better, at 2.8 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 58% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 56% of similar-size libraries. 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 Barnet’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Barnet is ahead of 43% of U.S. towns. Barnet’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($51K–$84K) 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 →
10 community nonprofits are registered in Barnet
5.5 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.9%
7.9% of Barnet’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.5% in the typical Vermont 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 Barnet’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Barnet Public serves 1,671 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 6 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
6,477 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 11K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
1,730 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 Barnet last year.
Find it
Barnet Public, 147 Church St., Barnet.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Barnet? 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 $2.61 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Barnet cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $40K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $104K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $40K 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 422 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Barnet ranks 4th of 7 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peacham | Peacham fine-free | 5.6 | 20 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Littleton | Littleton Public Library fine-free | 5.3 | 39 | A |
| St. Johnsbury | St. Johnsbury Athenaeum fine-free | 5.1 | 39 | A− |
| Barnet | Barnet Public fine-free | 3.9 | 21 | C+ |
| Monroe | Monroe Public Library fine-free | 3.1 | 16 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Danville | Pope Memorial fine-free | 3.1 | 26 | B+ |
| Waterford | Davies Memorial fine-free | 1.0 | 70 | D |
| Ryegate | South Ryegate Public | — | — | — too few inputs |
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 Barnet
Does Barnet have a public library?
Yes. Barnet Public, 147 Church St., serves Barnet’s 1,671 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 21 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Barnet Public 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 Barnet’s library?
It logged 1.2 visits and lent 3.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Barnet’s civic life grade?
C+ Barnet is ahead of 43% 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 Barnet.
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.