Photo: Ascended Dreamer · CC BY-SA 4.0Dalton’s library runs 129 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60 for libraries its size
Dalton Public Library serves Dalton’s 946 residents. Last year it lent 1,832 books, movies and e-books and logged 676 visits.
What Dalton’s library is like
Dalton Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Dalton Public Library records 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Borrowing is 0.8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $14 per resident, against a typical $54. How it compares ↓
Every town next door borrows more
Dalton’s library lends 1.9 items per resident. Each of the three neighboring towns with a library of its own lends more, led by Lancaster at 8.6. Libraries next door ↓
Open only about 10 hours a week
Dalton Public Library keeps short hours: about 10 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Littleton Public Library in Littleton, next door, is open about 39 hours a week. The building ↓
Most of Dalton’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 61% of loans. Print still makes up 39%. What people borrow ↓
A small-town library
Dalton Public Library serves 946 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 Dalton’s civic life grade
Dalton 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 →
61% of borrowing is digital
1,832 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
The survey has no count of children’s loans for Dalton’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
Each of the 8,425 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.1 time last year, on average.
1,116 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 6 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Dalton Public Library serves 946 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 4 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Not reported for 2024: library cards and funding. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.
122 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.
Find it
Dalton Public Library, 756 Dalton Road, Dalton.
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 Dalton? 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 $2.59 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Dalton resident borrows (the library didn’t report its card count for 2024).
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $13K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $35K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $13K 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 resident’s month = the library’s yearly loans and Wi-Fi sessions ÷ the 946 people it serves ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Dalton ranks 4th of 4 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lancaster | William D. Weeks Memorial Library fine-free | 8.6 | 34 | B+ |
| Whitefield | Whitefield Public Library fine-free | 5.7 | 38 | B+ |
| Littleton | Littleton Public Library fine-free | 5.3 | 39 | A |
| Dalton | Dalton Public Library fine-free | 1.9 | 10 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Lunenburg | Alden Balch Memorial fine-free | — | 18 | C |
| Concord | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| Gilman | 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.
- Not reported for 2024: library cards and funding. The survey filled the figure with its own estimate, so it is left out.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Dalton Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Dalton
Does Dalton have a public library?
Yes. Dalton Public Library, 756 Dalton Road, serves Dalton’s 946 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 10 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Dalton 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 Dalton’s library?
It logged 0.7 visits and lent 1.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Dalton’s civic life grade?
Dalton 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 Dalton.
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.