Photo: Ken Gallager · CC BY-SA 3.0New Hampton’s library runs 121 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60 for libraries its size
Gordon-Nash Library at New Hampton School serves New Hampton’s 2,436 residents. Last year it lent 7,674 books, movies and e-books and logged 5,302 visits.
What New Hampton’s library is like
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
100% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 0%. What your card is worth ↓
Most of New Hampton’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 57% of loans, more per resident than at 70% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 43%, much of it kids’ books. What people borrow ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Gordon-Nash Library at New Hampton School charges late fines on some overdue items. All six libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
A small-town library
Gordon-Nash Library at New Hampton School serves 2,436 residents with about 2 full-time staff, open about 47 hours a week. 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 ↓
The library is a National Register landmark
Gordon-Nash Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1988. Today’s library there has 3,742 square feet. The building ↓
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 New Hampton’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, New Hampton is ahead of 63% of U.S. towns. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups 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 →
12 community nonprofits are registered in New Hampton
4.8 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
10.1%
10.1% of New Hampton’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 New Hampton’s residents live; 2022.
57% of borrowing is digital
7,674 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 16K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.2 time last year, on average.
4,399 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 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Gordon-Nash Library at New Hampton School serves 2,436 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.
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 New Hampton last year.
A National Register landmark since 1988
Gordon-Nash Library, 69 Main Street, New Hampton.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in New Hampton? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Gordon-Nash Library
Gordon-Nash Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Sep 15, 1988. It is significant for its education and architecture at the local level. Its architecture is described as Renaissance.
The Gordon-Nash Library is a private non-profit library at 69 Main Street in New Hampton, New Hampshire. Founded in 1887, the library is "the only private non-profit library in New Hampshire that is open to all residents, students and sojourners," and effectively functions as New Hampton's public library.
More about the building →For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.36 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average New Hampton cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $97K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $133K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $97K 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 1,108 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
New Hampton ranks 6th of 7 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bristol | Minot-Sleeper Library fine-free | 13.3 | 42 | A |
| Meredith | Meredith Public Library fine-free | 9.3 | 46 | A+ |
| Sanbornton | Sanbornton Public Library fine-free | 8.1 | 32 | C |
| Center Harbor | James E. Nichols Memorial Library fine-free | 7.2 | 26 | A |
| Hill | Hill Public Library fine-free | 4.6 | 32 | C |
| New Hampton | Gordon-Nash Library | 3.2 | 47 | B |
| Ashland | Ashland Town Library fine-free | 2.9 | 23 | B− |
| Bridgewater | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
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.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 New Hampton
Does New Hampton have a public library?
Yes. Gordon-Nash Library at New Hampton School, 69 Main Street, serves New Hampton’s 2,436 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 47 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Gordon-Nash Library at New Hampton School 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 New Hampton’s library?
It logged 2.2 visits and lent 3.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is New Hampton’s civic life grade?
B New Hampton is ahead of 63% 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 New Hampton.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.