Photo: User:Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0Rumney’s library lends 6.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Byron G. Merrill Library serves Rumney’s 1,530 residents. Last year it lent 14K books, movies and e-books and logged 7,130 visits.
Rumney’s library, in brief
Open only about 15 hours a week
Byron G. Merrill Library keeps short hours: about 15 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Pease Public Library in Plymouth, next door, is open about 48 hours a week. The building ↓
Rumney out-borrows every town next door
At 9.1 loans per resident, Rumney leads the four towns here. The closest is Plymouth, at 7.5. Libraries next door ↓
A small-town library
Byron G. Merrill Library serves 1,530 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 ↓
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 Rumney’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Rumney is ahead of 84% of U.S. towns. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; Rumney’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 →
9 community nonprofits are registered in Rumney
6.0 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.2%
9.2% of Rumney’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 Rumney’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Byron G. Merrill Library serves 1,530 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 18 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
14K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 9,540 books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.1 time last year, on average.
3,853 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 Rumney last year.
Find it
Byron G. Merrill Library, 10 Buffalo Road, Rumney.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Rumney? 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 $3.41 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Rumney cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $67K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $229K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $67K 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 465 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Rumney borrows the most per resident of the 4 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rumney | Byron G. Merrill Library fine-free | 9.1 | 15 | A− |
| Plymouth | Pease Public Library fine-free | 7.5 | 48 | A |
| Wentworth | Webster Memorial Library fine-free | 4.7 | 15 | — graded with its twin city |
| Campton | Campton Public Library fine-free | 2.1 | 21 | B− |
| Ellsworth | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Groton | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Dorchester | 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.
- 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 Rumney
Does Rumney have a public library?
Yes. Byron G. Merrill Library, 10 Buffalo Road, serves Rumney’s 1,530 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 15 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Byron G. Merrill 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 Rumney’s library?
It logged 4.7 visits and lent 9.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Rumney’s civic life grade?
A− Rumney is ahead of 84% 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 Rumney.
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.