Photo: Ascended Dreamer · CC BY-SA 4.0Bath’s library lends 14 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Bath Public Library serves Bath’s 1,095 residents. Last year it lent 16K books, movies and e-books and logged 4,004 visits.
What Bath’s library is like
More library cards than residents
1,226 cards for 1,095 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
Kids borrow more here than almost anywhere
Children’s books and media are 54% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 95% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 35 items per child in Bath last year. Kids & programs ↓
Programs are almost all for children
86% of the 198 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 1.6 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Bath is a town of borrowers
Bath Public Library lends 14 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries serving under 2,500 people, more than 94% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
A small-town library
Bath Public Library serves 1,095 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 Bath’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Bath is ahead of 65% of U.S. towns. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Bath’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
4 community nonprofits are registered in Bath
3.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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.
9.9%
9.9% of Bath’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 Bath’s residents live; 2022.
About 3 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 Bath last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Bath Public Library serves 1,095 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 15 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
16K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 10K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.5 times last year, on average.
1,037 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Bath Public Library, 4 West Bath Road, Bath.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Bath? 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 $4.05 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Bath cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $64K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $261K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $64K 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 1,226 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Bath borrows the most per resident of the 3 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bath | Bath Public Library fine-free | 15.0 | 21 | B+ |
| Monroe | Monroe Public Library fine-free | 3.1 | 16 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Haverhill | Haverhill Library Association fine-free | 1.4 | 16 | B |
| Ryegate | South Ryegate Public | — | — | — too few inputs |
| Woodsville | Woodsville Free Public Library fine-free | — | 16 | — graded as part of its town |
| Wells River | Baldwin Memorial fine-free | — | 20 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Newbury | Baldwin Memorial fine-free | — | 20 | B |
| Landaff | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Lyman | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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 Bath
Does Bath have a public library?
Yes. Bath Public Library, 4 West Bath Road, serves Bath’s 1,095 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 21 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Bath 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 Bath’s library?
It logged 3.7 visits and lent 15.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Bath’s civic life grade?
B+ Bath is ahead of 65% 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 Bath.
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.