Photo: Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0Sheldon’s library logs 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Sheldon Municipal serves Sheldon’s 2,295 residents. Last year it lent 3,842 books, movies and e-books and logged 1,908 visits.
What Sheldon’s library is like
Sheldon Municipal is used less than most libraries its size
Sheldon Municipal records 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Borrowing is 1.6 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 ↓
Every town next door borrows more
Sheldon’s library lends 1.7 items per resident. Each of the three neighboring towns with a library of its own lends more, led by Enosburgh at 5.8. Libraries next door ↓
A small-town library
Sheldon Municipal serves 2,295 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 ↓
Open only about 22 hours a week
Sheldon Municipal keeps short hours: about 22 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Enosburgh Public in Enosburgh, next door, is open about 56 hours a week. The building ↓
Runs on less money than most
Sheldon Municipal spends $19 per resident, less than 92% of similar-size libraries (typical: $54). 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 Sheldon’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Sheldon is ahead of 4% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Sheldon’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Sheldon Municipal spends $19 per resident, against a typical $54 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($59K–$98K) 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 Sheldon
2.2 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
4.6%
4.6% of Sheldon’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 Sheldon’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Sheldon Municipal serves 2,295 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.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
3,842 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
The survey has no count of children’s loans for Sheldon’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
Each of the 7,440 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.5 time last year, on average.
59 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
47 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
Find it
Sheldon Municipal, 1640 Main St., Sheldon.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Sheldon? 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 $1.56 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Sheldon cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $44K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $69K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $44K 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 571 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Sheldon ranks 4th of 4 for borrowing per resident. 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.
- 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 Sheldon
Does Sheldon have a public library?
Yes. Sheldon Municipal, 1640 Main St., serves Sheldon’s 2,295 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 22 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Sheldon Municipal 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 Sheldon’s library?
It logged 0.8 visits and lent 1.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Sheldon’s civic life grade?
D− Sheldon is ahead of 4% 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 Sheldon.
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.