Photo: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 4.0Lempster’s library logs 0.6 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Miner Memorial Library serves Lempster’s 1,145 residents. Last year it lent 2,149 books, movies and e-books and logged 738 visits.
Lempster’s library, in brief
Miner Memorial Library is used less than most libraries its size
Miner Memorial Library records 0.6 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Borrowing is 0.7 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $15 per resident, against a typical $54. How it compares ↓
Most of Lempster’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 64% of loans. Print still makes up 36%. What people borrow ↓
Every town next door borrows more
Lempster’s library lends 1.9 items per resident. Each of the three neighboring towns with a library of its own lends more, led by Washington at 3.9. Libraries next door ↓
Open only about 14 hours a week
Miner Memorial Library keeps short hours: about 14 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
A small-town library
Miner Memorial Library serves 1,145 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 Lempster’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Lempster is ahead of 49% of U.S. towns. Lempster’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
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 →
10 community nonprofits are registered in Lempster
10.5 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 (0 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.7%
7.7% of Lempster’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 Lempster’s residents live; 2022.
64% of borrowing is digital
2,149 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 7,267 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.1 time last year, on average.
1,384 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 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Miner Memorial Library serves 1,145 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 3 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
19 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.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Lempster last year.
Find it
Miner Memorial Library, 3 2nd New Hampshire Turnpike, Lempster.
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 Lempster? 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 $2.10 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Lempster cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $17K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $36K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $17K 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 946 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Lempster ranks 4th of 4 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington | Shedd Free Library fine-free | 3.9 | 19 | C+ |
| Acworth | Acworth Silsby Public Library | 3.4 | 22 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Marlow | Marlow Town Library fine-free | 3.0 | 14 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Lempster | Miner Memorial Library fine-free | 1.9 | 14 | B− |
| Unity | Unity Free Public Library | — | — | D |
| Goshen | Olive G. Pettis Library | — | 27 | — graded with its twin city |
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. Miner Memorial 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 Lempster
Does Lempster have a public library?
Yes. Miner Memorial Library, 3 2nd New Hampshire Turnpike, serves Lempster’s 1,145 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 14 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Miner Memorial 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 Lempster’s library?
It logged 0.6 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 Lempster’s civic life grade?
B− Lempster is ahead of 49% 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 Lempster.
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.