Photo: Ascended Dreamer · CC BY 4.0Franconia’s library runs 187 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60 for libraries its size
Abbie Greenleaf Library serves Franconia’s 1,128 residents. Last year it lent 12K books, movies and e-books and logged 4,600 visits.
What Franconia’s library is like
Franconia out-borrows every town next door
At 11 loans per resident, Franconia leads the four towns here. The closest is Bethlehem, at 9. Libraries next door ↓
A small-town library
Abbie Greenleaf Library serves 1,128 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 ↓
The library is a National Register landmark
Abbie Greenleaf Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2003. Today’s library there has 3,500 square feet. The building ↓
Open only about 21 hours a week
Abbie Greenleaf Library keeps short hours: about 21 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Lincoln Public Library in Lincoln, next door, is open about 54 hours a week. The building ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 2.9 e-items per resident, against a typical 1, higher than at 86% of similar-size libraries. It’s 27% of all loans. 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 Franconia’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Franconia is ahead of 94% of U.S. towns. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; Franconia’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
28 community nonprofits are registered in Franconia
26.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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.
13.1%
13.1% of Franconia’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 Franconia’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 Franconia 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.
Abbie Greenleaf Library serves 1,128 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 11 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
12K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 10K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.9 time last year, on average.
3,261 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
A National Register landmark since 2003
Abbie Greenleaf Library, 439 Main Street, Franconia.
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 Franconia? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Abbie Greenleaf Library
Greenleaf, Abbie, Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Jun 13, 2003. It is significant for its education and architecture at the local level. Its architecture is described as Jacobethan Revival.
The Abbie Greenleaf Library is the public library in Franconia, New Hampshire. It is located at 439 Main St. in the center of the main village, in a Jacobethan building designed by William H. McLean and built in 1912. The building was a gift to the town from Charles Greenleaf and named in honor of his wife. Greenleaf was owner of the Profile House, a major resort hotel in Franconia.
More about the building →For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.94 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Franconia cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $115K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $223K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $115K 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 700 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Franconia borrows the most per resident of the 4 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Franconia | Abbie Greenleaf Library fine-free | 10.9 | 21 | A |
| Bethlehem | Bethlehem Public Library fine-free | 9.0 | 34 | A |
| Lincoln | Lincoln Public Library fine-free | 6.1 | 54 | A− |
| Sugar Hill | Richardson Memorial Library fine-free | 3.8 | 20 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Easton | 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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Abbie Greenleaf 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 Franconia
Does Franconia have a public library?
Yes. Abbie Greenleaf Library, 439 Main Street, serves Franconia’s 1,128 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 21 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Abbie Greenleaf 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 Franconia’s library?
It logged 4.1 visits and lent 10.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Franconia’s civic life grade?
A Franconia is ahead of 94% 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 Franconia.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.