Dame School · Photo: Ken Gallager · CC BY-SA 3.0Nottingham’s library runs 78 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Blaisdell Memorial Library serves Nottingham’s 5,371 residents. Last year it lent 40K books, movies and e-books and logged 21K visits.
What Nottingham’s library is like
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
47% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 53%. What your card is worth ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Blaisdell Memorial Library charges late fines on some overdue items. All four libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 67% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 81% of similar-size libraries. 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.
What’s behind Nottingham’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Nottingham is ahead of 53% of U.S. towns, #71 of 126 in New Hampshire. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Nottingham’s count of community nonprofits pulls 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 →
14 community nonprofits are registered in Nottingham
2.6 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 (5 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
9.5%
9.5% of Nottingham’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 Nottingham’s residents live; 2022.
About 5 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 Nottingham last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Blaisdell Memorial Library serves 5,371 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 24 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
40K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 18K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.5 times last year, on average.
12,811 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Blaisdell Memorial Library, 129 Stage Road, Nottingham.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Nottingham? 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 Nottingham cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $300K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $629K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $300K 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 3,588 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Nottingham ranks 2nd of 5 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lee | Lee Public Library fine-free | 7.5 | 37 | A− |
| Nottingham | Blaisdell Memorial Library | 7.5 | 35 | B− |
| Barrington | Barrington Public Library fine-free | 7.2 | 47 | B |
| Deerfield | Philbrick-James Library fine-free | 5.0 | 38 | C |
| Northwood | Chesley Memorial Library fine-free | 4.6 | 32 | 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.
- 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 Nottingham
Does Nottingham have a public library?
Yes. Blaisdell Memorial Library, 129 Stage Road, serves Nottingham’s 5,371 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 35 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Blaisdell Memorial 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 Nottingham’s library?
It logged 3.9 visits and lent 7.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Nottingham’s civic life grade?
B− Nottingham is ahead of 53% of U.S. towns on civic life, #71 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 Nottingham.
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.