Photo: Ascended Dreamer · CC BY 4.0Orford’s library logs 1.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Orford Free Library serves Orford’s 1,249 residents. Last year it lent 4,684 books, movies and e-books and logged 1,700 visits.
What Orford’s library is like
Every town next door borrows more
Orford’s library lends 3.8 items per resident. Each of the five neighboring towns with a library of its own lends more, led by Lyme at 25. Libraries next door ↓
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving under 2,500 people, Orford Free Library sits below the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on four. How it compares ↓
Open only about 14 hours a week
Orford Free Library keeps short hours: about 14 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Converse Free Library in Lyme, next door, is open about 35 hours a week. The buildings ↓
A small-town library
Orford Free Library serves 1,249 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 ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 20% of the people Orford Free Library serves have a library card, against a typical 54% for its size. How it compares ↓
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 Orford’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Orford is ahead of 87% of U.S. towns. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; Orford’s count of community nonprofits ranks highest.
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 Orford
10.8 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.
8.3%
8.3% of Orford’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 Orford’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Orford Free Library serves 1,249 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 7 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
4,684 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 12K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.3 time last year, on average.
1,100 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
35 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 Orford last year.
2 places to borrow in Orford
Orford Free Library, 2539 Route 25a, Orford.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Orford? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Orford
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.81 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Orford cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $27K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $76K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $27K 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 255 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Orford ranks 6th of 6 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lyme | Converse Free Library fine-free | 25.4 | 35 | A |
| Fairlee | Fairlee Public fine-free | 9.5 | 25 | B+ |
| Piermont | Piermont Public Library fine-free | 7.9 | 16 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Wentworth | Webster Memorial Library fine-free | 4.7 | 15 | — graded with its twin city |
| Bradford | Bradford Public fine-free | 4.3 | 28 | A− |
| Orford | Orford Free Library fine-free | 3.8 | 14 | A |
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. Orford Free 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 Orford
Does Orford have a public library?
Yes. Orford Free Library, 2539 Route 25a, serves Orford’s 1,249 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 14 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Orford Free 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 Orford’s library?
It logged 1.4 visits and lent 3.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Orford’s civic life grade?
A Orford is ahead of 87% 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 Orford.
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.