Beede Farm · Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 3.0Sandwich’s library lends 8.7 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Samuel H. Wentworth Library serves Sandwich’s 1,489 residents. Last year it lent 18K books, movies and e-books and logged 4,680 visits.
Sandwich’s library, in brief
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
42% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 58%. What your card is worth ↓
A small-town library
Samuel H. Wentworth Library serves 1,489 residents with about 2 full-time staff, open about 32 hours a week. 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 ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3.1 e-items per resident, against a typical 1, higher than at 87% of similar-size libraries. It’s 26% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
Sandwich invests in its library
Samuel H. Wentworth Library spends $111 per resident a year, about twice the typical $54 for a library its size. What your card is worth ↓
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 Sandwich’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Sandwich is ahead of 82% of U.S. towns. Sandwich’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull 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 →
18 community nonprofits are registered in Sandwich
10.0 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.7%
9.7% of Sandwich’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 Sandwich’s residents live; 2022.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
18K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 20K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.6 time last year, on average.
4,616 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Samuel H. Wentworth Library serves 1,489 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 11 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
73 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 Sandwich last year.
Find it
Samuel H. Wentworth Library, 35 Main Street, Center Sandwich.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Sandwich? 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 $1.69 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Sandwich cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $165K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $279K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $165K 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 727 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Sandwich ranks 2nd of 4 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moultonborough | Moultonborough Public Library fine-free | 13.9 | 48 | A |
| Sandwich | Samuel H. Wentworth Library fine-free | 11.8 | 32 | A− |
| Tamworth | Cook Memorial Library fine-free | 11.4 | 38 | A+ |
| Campton | Campton Public Library fine-free | 2.1 | 21 | B− |
| Waterville Valley | 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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Samuel H. Wentworth 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 Sandwich
Does Sandwich have a public library?
Yes. Samuel H. Wentworth Library, 35 Main Street, serves Sandwich’s 1,489 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 32 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Samuel H. Wentworth 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 Sandwich’s library?
It logged 3.1 visits and lent 11.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Sandwich’s civic life grade?
A− Sandwich is ahead of 82% 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 Sandwich.
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.