Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Ashland’s library lends 1.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Ashland Town Library serves Ashland’s 1,961 residents. Last year it lent 5,781 books, movies and e-books and logged 4,680 visits.
What Ashland’s library is like
Every town next door borrows more
Ashland’s library lends 2.9 items per resident. Each of the three neighboring towns with a library of its own lends more, led by Holderness at 13. Libraries next door ↓
A small-town library
Ashland Town Library serves 1,961 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 23 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 ↓
Nearly everyone in Ashland has a card
1,727 cards for 1,961 people, or 88%. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
47% of borrowing happens on a screen
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 47% of loans, more per resident than at 60% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 53%. 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 Ashland’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Ashland is ahead of 50% of U.S. towns. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull 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 →
9 community nonprofits are registered in Ashland
4.1 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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.
8.4%
8.4% of Ashland’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.9% in the typical New Hampshire 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 Ashland’s residents live; 2022.
47% of borrowing is digital
5,781 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 15K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.2 time last year, on average.
2,725 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 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Ashland Town Library serves 1,961 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.
57 programs a year
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 Ashland last year.
Find it
Ashland Town Library, 41 Main Street, Ashland.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Ashland? 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 Ashland cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $104K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $99K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $104K 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 1,727 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Ashland ranks 4th of 4 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Holderness | Holderness Library fine-free | 13.3 | 25 | A− |
| Plymouth | Pease Public Library fine-free | 7.5 | 48 | A |
| New Hampton | Gordon-Nash Library | 3.2 | 47 | B |
| Ashland | Ashland Town Library fine-free | 2.9 | 23 | B− |
| Bridgewater | None of its own | — | — | 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 Ashland
Does Ashland have a public library?
Yes. Ashland Town Library, 41 Main Street, serves Ashland’s 1,961 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 23 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Ashland Town 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 Ashland’s library?
It logged 2.4 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 Ashland’s civic life grade?
B− Ashland is ahead of 50% 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 Ashland.
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.