Photo: User:Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0Richmond’s library runs 163 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60 for libraries its size
Richmond Public Library serves Richmond’s 1,224 residents. Last year it lent 4,454 books, movies and e-books and logged 1,456 visits.
What Richmond’s library is like
Open only about 15 hours a week
Richmond Public Library keeps short hours: about 15 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Mt. Caesar Union Library in Swanzey, next door, is open about 30 hours a week. The building ↓
A small-town library
Richmond Public Library serves 1,224 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 12% of the people Richmond Public Library serves have a library card, against a typical 54% for its size. How it compares ↓
Fewer visits than most libraries its size
Richmond Public Library records 1.2 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people, below 89% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing holds up better, at 2.3 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
Programs lean toward adults
69% of the 200 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 60 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
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 Richmond’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Richmond is ahead of 34% of U.S. towns. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($67K–$112K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
5 community nonprofits are registered in Richmond
3.8 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.
8.4%
8.4% of Richmond’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 Richmond’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Richmond Public Library serves 1,224 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.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
4,454 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 8,641 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.3 time last year, on average.
1,660 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 1 kids’ program 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 Richmond last year.
Find it
Richmond Public Library, 19 Winchester Road, Richmond.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Richmond? 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 $1.62 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Richmond cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $47K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $76K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $47K 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 149 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Richmond ranks 3rd of 5 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fitzwilliam | Fitzwilliam Town Library | 7.8 | 20 | A |
| Troy | Gay-Kimball Library fine-free | 6.4 | 23 | B− |
| Richmond | Richmond Public Library fine-free | 3.6 | 15 | C |
| Winchester | Thayer Public Library fine-free | 2.5 | 17 | B |
| Swanzey | Mt. Caesar Union Library fine-free | 1.6 | 30 | 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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Richmond Public 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 Richmond
Does Richmond have a public library?
Yes. Richmond Public Library, 19 Winchester Road, serves Richmond’s 1,224 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 15 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Richmond 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 Richmond’s library?
It logged 1.2 visits and lent 3.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Richmond’s civic life grade?
C Richmond is ahead of 34% 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 Richmond.
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.