Photo: John Phelan · CC BY 3.0Oakham’s library lends 7.2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Fobes Memorial Library serves Oakham’s 1,866 residents. Last year it lent 14K print books and media and logged 7,090 visits.
What Oakham’s library is like
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 69% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 89% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 31 items per child in Oakham last year. Kids & programs ↓
Programs are almost all for children
85% of the 104 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including 46 for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
A small-town library
Fobes Memorial Library serves 1,866 residents with about 2 full-time staff, open about 28 hours a week. 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 Oakham’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Oakham is ahead of 90% of U.S. towns. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups ranks highest.
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 →
12 community nonprofits are registered in Oakham
7.3 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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
14.6%
14.6% of Oakham’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.9% in the typical Massachusetts 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 Oakham’s residents live; 2022.
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 Oakham last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Fobes Memorial Library serves 1,866 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 9 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
14K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 13K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.1 time last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Fobes Memorial Library, 4 Maple Street Unit #9, Oakham.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Oakham? 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 $1.89 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Oakham cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $111K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $209K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $111K 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 807 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Oakham ranks 2nd 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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Fobes Memorial Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
- Digital loans not reported. Massachusetts libraries often don’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
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 Oakham
Does Oakham have a public library?
Yes. Fobes Memorial Library, 4 Maple Street Unit #9, serves Oakham’s 1,866 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 28 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Fobes Memorial 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 Oakham’s library?
It logged 3.8 visits and lent 7.2 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Oakham’s civic life grade?
A Oakham is ahead of 90% 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 Oakham.
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.