Roxbury Fish Hatchery (Additional Documentation) · Photo: JMRDC · CC BY-SA 3.0Roxbury’s library logs 1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Roxbury Free Library serves Roxbury’s 956 residents. Last year it lent 2,978 books, movies and e-books and logged 1,003 visits.
What Roxbury’s library is like
Open only about 18 hours a week
Roxbury Free Library keeps short hours: about 18 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Warren Public in Warren, next door, is open about 33 hours a week. The building ↓
A small-town library
Roxbury Free Library serves 956 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 ↓
Fewer visits than most libraries its size
Roxbury Free Library records 1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people, below 91% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing holds up better, at 2.1 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
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 Roxbury’s civic life grade
Roxbury 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 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Roxbury Free Library serves 956 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 3 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
2,978 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 8,913 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.2 time last year, on average.
935 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
49 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 Roxbury last year.
Find it
Roxbury Free Library, 1491 Roxbury Rd., Roxbury.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Roxbury? 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 $1.57 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Roxbury cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $38K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $59K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $38K 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 309 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Roxbury ranks 2nd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warren | Warren Public fine-free | 10.3 | 33 | A− |
| Roxbury | Roxbury Free Library fine-free | 3.1 | 18 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Brookfield | Brookfield Free Public fine-free | 1.9 | 10 | B |
| Braintree | None of its own | — | — | A− |
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 Roxbury
Does Roxbury have a public library?
Yes. Roxbury Free Library, 1491 Roxbury Rd., serves Roxbury’s 956 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 18 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Roxbury 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 Roxbury’s library?
It logged 1.0 visits and lent 3.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Roxbury’s civic life grade?
Roxbury 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 Roxbury.
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.