Socialist Labor Party Hall · Photo: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 3.0Barre’s library logs 4.2 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Aldrich Public serves 16,435 people in and around Barre. Last year it lent 59K print books and media and logged 69K visits.
The short version on Barre’s library
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
42% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 56%. What your card is worth ↓
The branch is a National Register landmark
Aldrich Public Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2016. Today’s library there has 20,000 square feet. 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; Aldrich Public serves 16,435 people in and around Barre, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Barre’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Barre is ahead of 80% of U.S. towns, #34 of 71 in Vermont. Barre is graded on two of the three inputs. Barre’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups 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 →
119 community nonprofits are registered in Barre
14.2 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 (13 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 3 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.0%
7.0% of Barre’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 Barre’s residents live; 2022.
A National Register landmark since 2016
Aldrich Public, 6 Washington St., Barre.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Aldrich Public branch.
New in Barre? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Aldrich Public Library
Aldrich Public Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Jan 5, 2016. It is significant for its engineering and architecture at the local level.
The Aldrich Public Library is the public library serving the city of Barre, Vermont. It is located at 6 Washington Street in the city center, in an architecturally distinguished Classical Revival building constructed in 1907–08 with funds bequested by Leonard Frost Aldrich, a local businessman, and was substantially enlarged in 2000. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.
More about the building →Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 6 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Aldrich Public serves 16,435 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 24 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Aldrich Public system. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
59K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
The survey has no count of children’s loans for Barre’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 5 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.62 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Barre cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $769K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $769K 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 8,489 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barre | Aldrich Public | — | 39 | A− |
| South Barre | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Berlin | None of its own | — | — | 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.
- Digital loans not reported. Vermont libraries often don’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
- System-wide. Aldrich Public serves 16,435 people in and around Barre, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Barre.
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 Barre
Does Barre have a public library?
Yes. Aldrich Public, 6 Washington St., serves 16,435 people in and around Barre (the survey’s count) and is open about 39 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Aldrich Public 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 Barre’s library?
It logged 4.2 visits and lent 3.6 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Barre’s civic life grade?
A− Barre is ahead of 80% of U.S. towns on civic life, #34 of 71 in Vermont. 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 Barre.
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.