Photo: Jessamyn West · CC BY-SA 2.5Orwell’s library runs 154 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60 for libraries its size
Orwell Free Library serves Orwell’s 1,198 residents. Last year it lent 5,299 print books and media and logged 5,416 visits.
What Orwell’s library is like
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
42% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 58%. What your card is worth ↓
A small-town library
Orwell Free Library serves 1,198 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 25 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 ↓
A place to get online
Orwell Free Library logs about 14 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 5 public computers. That’s 4.3 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 61% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 72% 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 Orwell’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Orwell is ahead of 91% of U.S. towns. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups ranks highest.
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 →
8 community nonprofits are registered in Orwell
5.9 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.
14.4%
14.4% of Orwell’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 Orwell’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Orwell Free Library serves 1,198 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.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
5,299 print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 9,940 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.5 time last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 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 Orwell last year.
Find it
Orwell Free Library, 473 Main St., Orwell.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Orwell? 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 $1.16 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Orwell cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $90K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $104K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $90K 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
Orwell borrows the most per resident of the 3 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orwell | Orwell Free Library fine-free | 4.4 | 25 | A |
| Ticonderoga | Ticonderoga Black Watch Memorial Library fine-free | 3.7 | 35 | B |
| Benson | Benson Public fine-free | 0.8 | 10 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Shoreham | Platt Memorial fine-free | — | 27 | A− |
| Putnam | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Whiting | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Sudbury | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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 Orwell
Does Orwell have a public library?
Yes. Orwell Free Library, 473 Main St., serves Orwell’s 1,198 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 25 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Orwell 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 Orwell’s library?
It logged 4.5 visits and lent 4.4 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Orwell’s civic life grade?
A Orwell is ahead of 91% 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 Orwell.
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.