Photo: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 4.0Danville’s library lends 7.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Colby Memorial Library serves Danville’s 4,495 residents. Last year it lent 41K books, movies and e-books and logged 8,633 visits.
What Danville’s library is like
People borrow more than they stay
Borrowing per resident is higher than at 85% of similar-size libraries, but visits are lower than at 69%. People come in, pick up their books and go. How it compares ↓
Danville out-borrows every town next door
At 9.1 loans per resident, Danville leads the five towns here. The closest is Hampstead, at 7.4. Libraries next door ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Colby Memorial Library charges late fines on some overdue items. All four libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Most programs are for young children
69% of the 296 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 2.9 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
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.
What’s behind Danville’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Danville is ahead of 30% of U.S. towns, #99 of 126 in New Hampshire. Danville’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($86K–$144K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
18 community nonprofits are registered in Danville
3.9 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.8%
6.8% of Danville’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 Danville’s residents live; 2022.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
41K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
The survey has no count of children’s loans for Danville’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
Each of the 37K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1 time last year, on average.
5,169 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 6 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Colby Memorial Library serves 4,495 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 22 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
About 4 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.
Find it
Colby Memorial Library, 7 Colby Road, Danville.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Danville? 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 $2.23 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Danville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $319K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $712K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $319K budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
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 2,975 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Danville borrows the most per resident of the 5 towns here. 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.
- 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 Danville
Does Danville have a public library?
Yes. Colby Memorial Library, 7 Colby Road, serves Danville’s 4,495 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 35 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Colby Memorial Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Danville’s library?
It logged 1.9 visits and lent 9.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Danville’s civic life grade?
C Danville is ahead of 30% of U.S. towns on civic life, #99 of 126 in New Hampshire. 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 Danville.
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.