Photo: Ascended Dreamer · CC BY 4.0Northumberland’s library runs 20 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60 for libraries its size
Northumberland Public Library serves Northumberland’s 2,120 residents. Last year it lent 8,604 books, movies and e-books and drew 754 people to its programs.
What Northumberland’s library is like
A small-town library
Northumberland Public Library serves 2,120 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 28 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 ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Northumberland Public Library holds 20,000 books and other items, but the average item went out less than once last year. 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Northumberland’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Northumberland is ahead of 67% of U.S. towns. Its library’s 2024 visits weren’t reported, so Northumberland is graded on two of the three inputs. Northumberland’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 Northumberland’s 2024 visits carries forward a 2023 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 →
11 community nonprofits are registered in Northumberland
6.1 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.9%
6.9% of Northumberland’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 Northumberland’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Northumberland Public Library serves 2,120 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 6 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.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
8,604 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 20K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.3 time last year, on average.
1,760 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
43 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 Northumberland last year.
Find it
Northumberland Public Library, 31 State Street, Groveton.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Northumberland? 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 $2.19 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Northumberland cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $68K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $149K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $68K 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 1,580 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Northumberland ranks 2nd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lancaster | William D. Weeks Memorial Library fine-free | 8.6 | 34 | B+ |
| Northumberland | Northumberland Public Library fine-free | 4.1 | 28 | B+ |
| Stratford | Stratford Public Library fine-free | 2.5 | 21 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Maidstone | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Guildhall | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Stark | 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.
- Not reported for 2024: visits. Northumberland Public Library didn’t report visits; the survey’s estimate carries forward its 2023 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 Northumberland
Does Northumberland have a public library?
Yes. Northumberland Public Library, 31 State Street, serves Northumberland’s 2,120 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 28 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Northumberland 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 Northumberland’s library?
It lent 4.1 items per resident in 2024 (print and digital) and ran 43 programs that drew 754 people. Visits weren’t reported for 2024.
What is Northumberland’s civic life grade?
B+ Northumberland is ahead of 67% 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 Northumberland.
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.