Photo: Ascended Dreamer · CC BY-SA 4.0Lisbon’s library runs 10 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60 for libraries its size
Lisbon Public Library serves Lisbon’s 1,654 residents. Last year it lent 5,522 books, movies and e-books and logged 4,000 visits.
What Lisbon’s library is like
More library cards than residents
2,706 cards for 1,654 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
Most of Lisbon’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 55% of loans, more per resident than at 71% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 45%. What people borrow ↓
A small-town library
Lisbon Public Library serves 1,654 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 ↓
Open only about 21 hours a week
Lisbon Public Library keeps short hours: about 21 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Littleton Public Library in Littleton, next door, is open about 39 hours a week. The building ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Lisbon Public Library offered 17 programs last year, 10 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Lisbon’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Lisbon is ahead of 79% of U.S. towns. Lisbon’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 →
13 community nonprofits are registered in Lisbon
8.2 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: arts & culture.
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.
11.0%
11.0% of Lisbon’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 Lisbon’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Lisbon Public Library serves 1,654 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 5 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
55% of borrowing is digital
5,522 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 11K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.2 time last year, on average.
3,038 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
17 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 Lisbon last year.
Find it
Lisbon Public Library, 45 School Street, Lisbon.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Lisbon? 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 $1.33 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Lisbon cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $67K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $89K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $67K 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 2,706 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Lisbon ranks 3rd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Littleton | Littleton Public Library fine-free | 5.3 | 39 | A |
| Sugar Hill | Richardson Memorial Library fine-free | 3.8 | 20 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Lisbon | Lisbon Public Library fine-free | 3.3 | 21 | A− |
| Landaff | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Lyman | 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. Lisbon Public 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 Lisbon
Does Lisbon have a public library?
Yes. Lisbon Public Library, 45 School Street, serves Lisbon’s 1,654 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 21 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lisbon 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 Lisbon’s library?
It logged 2.4 visits and lent 3.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Lisbon’s civic life grade?
A− Lisbon is ahead of 79% 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 Lisbon.
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.