Photo: Jon Platek · CC BY-SA 3.0Lebanon’s library lends 5.8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Lebanon Public Library serves Lebanon’s 15,108 residents from 2 locations. Last year it lent 128K books, movies and e-books and drew 9,531 people to its programs.
What Lebanon’s library is like
Lebanon invests in its library
Lebanon Public Library spends $114 per resident a year, about twice the typical $43 for a library its size. Almost all of it (95%) comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 2.7 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.1, higher than at 85% of similar-size libraries. It’s 32% 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.
What’s behind Lebanon’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Lebanon is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns, #44 of 126 in New Hampshire. Its library’s 2024 visits weren’t reported, so Lebanon is graded on two of the three inputs. Lebanon’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
The survey’s stand-in for Lebanon’s 2024 visits carries forward a 2020 figure, so it is left out.
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 →
88 community nonprofits are registered in Lebanon
5.9 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: health.
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 (11 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 4 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.3%
7.3% of Lebanon’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 Lebanon’s residents live; 2022.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.16 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Lebanon cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.7M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.7M 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 7,418 cardholders ÷ 12.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Lebanon Public Library serves 15,108 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 26 items go out
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.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
128K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 54K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.6 times last year, on average.
40,625 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 6 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 Lebanon last year.
2 places to borrow in Lebanon
Lebanon Public Library, 9 East Park Street, Lebanon.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Lebanon? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Lebanon
Libraries next door
Lebanon ranks 5th of 8 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hanover | Howe Library fine-free | 18.8 | 54 | A |
| Norwich | Norwich Public fine-free | 17.7 | 42 | A+ |
| Plainfield | Philip Read Memorial Library | 14.3 | 22 | B |
| Hartland | Hartland Public fine-free | 9.5 | 35 | B+ |
| Lebanon | Lebanon Public Library fine-free | 8.5 | 52 | B+ |
| Enfield | Enfield Public Library fine-free | 5.9 | 40 | B− |
| Hartford | Quechee fine-free | 5.9 | 38 | A |
| Wilder | Wilder Branch fine-free | 5.9 | 18 | — graded as part of its town |
| White River Junction | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
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. Lebanon Public Library didn’t report visits; the survey’s estimate carries forward its 2020 figure, 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 Lebanon
Does Lebanon have a public library?
Yes. Lebanon Public Library, 9 East Park Street, serves Lebanon’s 15,108 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 52 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lebanon 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 Lebanon’s library?
It lent 8.5 items per resident in 2024 (print and digital) and ran 471 programs that drew 9,531 people. Visits weren’t reported for 2024.
What is Lebanon’s civic life grade?
B+ Lebanon is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns on civic life, #44 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 Lebanon.
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.