Photo: Sdkb · CC BY-SA 4.0Londonderry’s library lends 5.1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Leach Library serves Londonderry’s 26,793 residents. Last year it lent 185K books, movies and e-books and logged 77K visits.
What’s behind Londonderry’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Londonderry is ahead of 44% of U.S. towns, #82 of 126 in New Hampshire. Londonderry’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 →
107 community nonprofits are registered in Londonderry
4.0 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (9 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 3 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.3%
7.3% of Londonderry’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 Londonderry’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Leach Library serves 26,793 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 66 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
185K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 93K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.5 time last year, on average.
48,013 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 3 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 Londonderry last year.
Find it
Leach Library, 276 Mammoth Road, Londonderry.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Londonderry? 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 $1.83 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Londonderry cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.5M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.8M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.5M budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
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 8,952 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Londonderry ranks 2nd of 5 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windham | Nesmith Library fine-free | 12.1 | 63 | A− |
| Londonderry | Leach Library | 6.9 | 54 | C+ |
| Derry | Derry Public Library fine-free | 5.3 | 53 | C+ |
| Hudson | George H. and Ella M. Rodgers Memorial Library fine-free | 4.2 | 54 | C− |
| Manchester | Manchester City Library | 2.6 | 50 | C− |
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. Leach 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 Londonderry
Does Londonderry have a public library?
Yes. Leach Library, 276 Mammoth Road, serves Londonderry’s 26,793 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 54 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Leach Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Londonderry’s library?
It logged 2.9 visits and lent 6.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Londonderry’s civic life grade?
C+ Londonderry is ahead of 44% of U.S. towns on civic life, #82 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 Londonderry.
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.