Photo: Ascended Dreamer · CC BY-SA 4.0Grand Isle’s library logs 1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Grand Isle Free Library serves Grand Isle’s 2,108 residents. Last year it lent 4,929 books, movies and e-books and logged 2,021 visits.
Grand Isle’s library, in brief
Grand Isle Free Library is used less than most libraries its size
Grand Isle Free Library records 1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Borrowing is 1.5 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. How it compares ↓
Every town next door borrows more
Grand Isle’s library lends 2.3 items per resident. Each of the four neighboring towns with a library of its own lends more, led by South Hero at 8.6. Libraries next door ↓
A small-town library
Grand Isle Free Library serves 2,108 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 26 hours a week. 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 ↓
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 Grand Isle’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Grand Isle is ahead of 29% of U.S. towns. Grand Isle’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($76K–$126K) 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 →
11 community nonprofits are registered in Grand Isle
5.0 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: environment & animals.
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 (0 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.5%
6.5% of Grand Isle’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 Grand Isle’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Grand Isle Free Library serves 2,108 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 4 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
4,929 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 8,523 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
1,692 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
128 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Grand Isle last year.
Find it
Grand Isle Free Library, 10 Hyde Rd., Grand Isle.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Grand Isle? 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 $1.14 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Grand Isle cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $78K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $90K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $78K 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 603 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Grand Isle ranks 5th of 5 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Hero | Worthen Library fine-free | 8.6 | 37 | A |
| North Hero | North Hero Public fine-free | 6.1 | 24 | — graded with its twin city |
| Georgia | Georgia Public fine-free | 4.7 | 38 | C |
| Milton | Milton Public fine-free | 3.8 | 43 | C |
| Grand Isle | Grand Isle Free Library fine-free | 2.3 | 26 | C |
| Plattsburgh | None of its own | — | — | D |
| St. Albans | None of its own | — | — | — graded with its twin city |
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 Grand Isle
Does Grand Isle have a public library?
Yes. Grand Isle Free Library, 10 Hyde Rd., serves Grand Isle’s 2,108 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 26 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Grand Isle 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 Grand Isle’s library?
It logged 1.0 visits and lent 2.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Grand Isle’s civic life grade?
C Grand Isle is ahead of 29% 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 Grand Isle.
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.