Photo: Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0Salisbury’s library lends 1.3 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Salisbury Free Public serves Salisbury’s 1,262 residents. Last year it lent 3,685 books, movies and e-books and logged 1,817 visits.
The short version on Salisbury’s library
Salisbury Free Public is used less than most libraries its size
Salisbury Free Public records 1.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Borrowing is 1.3 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $19 per resident, against a typical $54. How it compares ↓
Open only about 14 hours a week
Salisbury Free Public keeps short hours: about 14 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Ilsley Public in Middlebury, next door, is open about 53 hours a week. The building ↓
A small-town library
Salisbury Free Public serves 1,262 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 ↓
Most of Salisbury’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 54% of loans, more per resident than at 65% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 46%, much of it kids’ books. What people borrow ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
33% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 62%. 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 Salisbury’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Salisbury is ahead of 25% of U.S. towns. Salisbury’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Salisbury Free Public spends $19 per resident, against a typical $54 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($75K–$125K) 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 →
5 community nonprofits are registered in Salisbury
4.3 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: arts & culture.
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.
6.2%
6.2% of Salisbury’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 Salisbury’s residents live; 2022.
54% of borrowing is digital
3,685 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 5,912 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.3 time last year, on average.
1,999 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Salisbury Free Public serves 1,262 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 5 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
77 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 Salisbury last year.
Find it
Salisbury Free Public, 918 Maple St., Salisbury.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Salisbury? 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 $2.91 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Salisbury cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $25K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $72K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $25K 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 501 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Salisbury ranks 2nd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Middlebury | Ilsley Public fine-free | 14.0 | 53 | A+ |
| Salisbury | Salisbury Free Public fine-free | 2.9 | 14 | C− |
| Cornwall | Cornwall Free Public fine-free | 0.7 | 24 | C |
| Whiting | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Ripton | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Leicester | None of its own | — | — | A |
| Goshen | 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.
- 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 Salisbury
Does Salisbury have a public library?
Yes. Salisbury Free Public, 918 Maple St., serves Salisbury’s 1,262 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 14 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Salisbury Free 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 Salisbury’s library?
It logged 1.4 visits and lent 2.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Salisbury’s civic life grade?
C− Salisbury is ahead of 25% 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 Salisbury.
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.