Photo: User:Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0Olive G. Pettis Library serves Goshen’s 799 residents
Olive G. Pettis Library serves Goshen’s 799 residents.
What’s behind Goshen’s civic life grade
Goshen 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 →
A year at Olive G. Pettis Library
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Not reported for 2024: visits. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.
Find it
Olive G. Pettis Library, 36 Mill Village Road, Goshen.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Goshen? 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 Goshen resident borrows (the library didn’t report its card count for 2024).
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 799 people it serves ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunapee | Abbott Library fine-free | 13.1 | 51 | A− |
| Newbury | Newbury Public Library fine-free | 11.9 | 41 | A |
| Newport | Richards Free Library fine-free | 5.9 | 46 | B |
| Washington | Shedd Free Library fine-free | 3.9 | 19 | C+ |
| Lempster | Miner Memorial Library fine-free | 1.9 | 14 | B− |
| Goshen | Olive G. Pettis Library | — | 27 | — graded with its twin city |
| Unity | Unity Free Public Library | — | — | D |
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: visits. Olive G. Pettis Library didn’t report visits; the survey’s estimate is its own, so we leave it out and never rank it.
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 Goshen
Does Goshen have a public library?
Yes. Olive G. Pettis Library, 36 Mill Village Road, serves Goshen’s 799 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 27 hours a week, averaged over the year.
How busy is Goshen’s library?
It lent 0.0 items per resident in 2024 (print). Visits weren’t reported for 2024.
What is Goshen’s civic life grade?
Goshen 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 Goshen.
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.