Chaffee-Moloney Houses · Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 3.0Rutland’s library runs 18 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Rutland Free Library serves 21,887 people in and around Rutland. Last year it lent 118K books, movies and e-books and drew 7,855 people to its programs.
What stands out about Rutland Free Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Rutland’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Rutland is ahead of 78% of U.S. towns, #37 of 71 in Vermont. Its library’s 2024 visits weren’t reported, so Rutland is graded on two of the three inputs. Rutland’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
The survey’s stand-in for Rutland’s 2024 visits is its own estimate, so it is left out.
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 →
131 community nonprofits are registered in Rutland
8.3 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 (19 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.2%
7.2% of Rutland’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 Rutland’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Rutland Free Library serves 21,887 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 45 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Rutland Free Library system. The library’s own count.
Not reported for 2024: visits. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
118K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
26,348 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. 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, 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.
Find it
Rutland Free Library, 10 Court St., Rutland.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Rutland Free Library branch.
New in Rutland? 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 $1.59 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Rutland cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.3M 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 10,052 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Not reported for 2024: visits. Rutland Free Library didn’t report visits; the survey’s estimate is its own, so we leave it out and never rank it.
- System-wide. Rutland Free Library serves 21,887 people in and around Rutland, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Rutland.
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 Rutland
Does Rutland have a public library?
Yes. Rutland Free Library, 10 Court St., serves 21,887 people in and around Rutland (the survey’s count) and is open about 51 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Rutland 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 Rutland’s library?
It lent 5.4 items per resident in 2024 (print and digital) and ran 385 programs that drew 7,855 people. Visits weren’t reported for 2024.
What is Rutland’s civic life grade?
A− Rutland is ahead of 78% of U.S. towns on civic life, #37 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 Rutland.
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.