Photo: Redjar at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Middletown Springs’ library logs 2.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Middletown Springs Public serves Middletown Springs’s 734 residents. Last year it lent 2,163 print books and media and logged 1,752 visits.
What Middletown Springs’s library is like
Open only about 18 hours a week
Middletown Springs Public keeps short hours: about 18 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Poultney Public in Poultney, next door, is open about 38 hours a week. The building ↓
A small-town library
Middletown Springs Public serves 734 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
30% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 70%. What your card is worth ↓
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 Middletown Springs’ civic life grade
Middletown Springs isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Middletown Springs Public serves 734 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 2 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
2,163 print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 6,735 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.3 time last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
26 programs a year
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 Middletown Springs last year.
Find it
Middletown Springs Public, 39 West St., Middletown Spgs..
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Middletown Springs? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Middletown Springs cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $40K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $36K 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 383 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.
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.
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 Middletown Springs
Does Middletown Springs have a public library?
Yes. Middletown Springs Public, 39 West St., serves Middletown Springs’ 734 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 18 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Middletown Springs 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 Middletown Springs’ library?
It logged 2.4 visits and lent 2.9 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Middletown Springs’ civic life grade?
Middletown Springs isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Middletown Springs.
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.