Photo: Bill Marrs · CC BY-SA 3.0Plainfield’s library lends 12 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Philip Read Memorial Library serves Plainfield’s 2,510 residents from 2 locations. Last year it lent 36K books, movies and e-books and logged 9,053 visits.
What Plainfield’s library is like
Four times the programs of a typical library its size
Plainfield’s library system ran 312 programs last year, about 6 a week. That’s 124 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34. Kids & programs ↓
Top 10% in New Hampshire for borrowing
Plainfield ranks #7 of 120 New Hampshire towns with a library of their own for items borrowed per resident. Print borrowing alone runs 12 items per resident, more than at 95% of similar-size libraries nationwide. How it compares ↓
Plainfield out-borrows every town next door
At 14 loans per resident, Plainfield leads the five towns here. The closest is Grantham, at 12. Libraries next door ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Plainfield’s library system charges late fines on some overdue items. All four libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Open only about 22 hours a week
Plainfield’s library system keeps short hours: about 22 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Lebanon Public Library in Lebanon, next door, is open about 52 hours a week. The buildings ↓
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 Plainfield’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Plainfield is ahead of 59% of U.S. towns, #62 of 126 in New Hampshire. Plainfield’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups 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 →
16 community nonprofits are registered in Plainfield
6.3 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.4%
6.4% of Plainfield’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 Plainfield’s residents live; 2022.
312 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Plainfield 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.
Philip Read Memorial Library serves 2,510 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 16 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Not reported for 2024: funding. 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
36K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 28K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.1 time last year, on average.
5,575 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
2 places to borrow in Plainfield
Philip Read Memorial Library, 1088 Route 12a, Plainfield.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Plainfield? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Plainfield
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.76 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Plainfield cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $213K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $587K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $213K 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 1,130 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Plainfield borrows the most per resident of the 5 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plainfield | Philip Read Memorial Library | 14.3 | 22 | B |
| Grantham | Dunbar Free Library fine-free | 12.3 | 35 | B |
| Hartland | Hartland Public fine-free | 9.5 | 35 | B+ |
| Lebanon | Lebanon Public Library fine-free | 8.5 | 52 | B+ |
| Cornish | George H. Stowell Free Library fine-free | 5.9 | 15 | C+ |
| North Hartland | 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: funding. The survey filled the figure with its own estimate, so it is left out.
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 Plainfield
Does Plainfield have a public library?
Yes. Philip Read Memorial Library, 1088 Route 12a, serves Plainfield’s 2,510 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 22 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Philip Read 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 Plainfield’s library?
It logged 3.6 visits and lent 14.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Plainfield’s civic life grade?
B Plainfield is ahead of 59% of U.S. towns on civic life, #62 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 Plainfield.
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.