Photo: Ascended Dreamer · CC BY 4.0Hitchcock Museum & Library serves Westfield’s 615 residents
Hitchcock Museum & Library serves Westfield’s 615 residents.
Westfield’s library, in brief
Open only about 14 hours a week
Hitchcock Museum & Library keeps short hours: about 14 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
A small-town library
Hitchcock Museum & Library serves 615 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 ↓
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 Westfield’s civic life grade
Westfield 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 →
A year at Hitchcock Museum & Library
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Not reported for 2024: visits, print loans, books & media on the shelves, library cards, spending and public computers. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.
Find it
Hitchcock Museum & Library, 1252 Rte. 100, Westfield.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Westfield? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Westfield resident borrows (the library didn’t report its card count for 2024).
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 resident’s month = the library’s yearly loans and Wi-Fi sessions ÷ the 615 people it serves ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Westfield | Hitchcock Museum & Library fine-free | — | 14 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Troy | William & Lucy Rand Memorial fine-free | — | 20 | C |
| Montgomery | Montgomery Town | — | — | B+ |
| Lowell | Lowell Community | — | — | — graded with its twin city |
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.
- Not reported for 2024: visits. Hitchcock Museum & Library didn’t report visits; the survey’s estimate is its own, so we leave it out and never rank it.
- Not reported for 2024: print loans, books & media on the shelves, library cards, spending and public computers. The survey filled the figure with its own estimate, so it is left out.
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 Westfield
Does Westfield have a public library?
Yes. Hitchcock Museum & Library, 1252 Rte. 100, serves Westfield’s 615 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 14 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Hitchcock Museum & 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 Westfield’s library?
It lent 0.0 items per resident in 2024 (print). Visits weren’t reported for 2024.
What is Westfield’s civic life grade?
Westfield 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 Westfield.
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.