Photo: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 4.0Lyme’s library logs 6 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Lyme Public Library serves Lyme’s 2,409 residents. Last year it lent 19K books, movies and e-books and logged 14K visits.
Lyme’s library, in brief
Programs lean toward adults
59% of the 203 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 82 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Lyme Public Library holds 25,000 books and other items, but the average item went out about once every two years last year. What people borrow ↓
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 Lyme’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Lyme is ahead of 59% of U.S. towns. Library visits hold the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
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 →
8 community nonprofits are registered in Lyme
3.6 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: environment & animals.
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.
7.0%
7.0% of Lyme’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.5% in the typical Connecticut 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 Lyme’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Lyme Public Library serves 2,409 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 6 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
19K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 25K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.5 time last year, on average.
5,757 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, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Lyme last year.
Find it
Lyme Public Library, 482 Hamburg Rd., Lyme.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Lyme? 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 $1.65 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Lyme cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $197K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $325K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $197K 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 1,491 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Lyme ranks 5th of 9 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essex Village | Essex Library Association fine-free | 9.7 | 53 | — graded as part of its town |
| Essex | Essex Library Association fine-free | 9.7 | 53 | A |
| Old Lyme | Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library fine-free | 9.4 | 53 | A− |
| East Lyme | East Lyme Public Library fine-free | 8.9 | 57 | A |
| Lyme | Lyme Public Library fine-free | 7.9 | 60 | B |
| East Haddam | East Haddam Free Public Library fine-free | 6.6 | 44 | A+ |
| Deep River | Deep River Public Library | 4.7 | 42 | A− |
| Deep River Center | Deep River Public Library | 4.7 | 42 | — graded as part of its town |
| Chester | Chester Public Library fine-free | 3.8 | 42 | B− |
| Salem | Salem Free Public Library | — | 40 | B+ |
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 Lyme
Does Lyme have a public library?
Yes. Lyme Public Library, 482 Hamburg Rd., serves Lyme’s 2,409 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 60 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lyme Public 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 Lyme’s library?
It logged 6.0 visits and lent 7.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Lyme’s civic life grade?
B Lyme is ahead of 59% 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 Lyme.
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.