Lawrence Farm · Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 3.0Troy’s library lends 5.5 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Gay-Kimball Library serves Troy’s 2,148 residents. Last year it lent 14K books, movies and e-books and logged 8,912 visits.
What Troy’s library is like
A small-town library
Gay-Kimball Library serves 2,148 residents with about 2 full-time staff, open about 23 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 ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Gay-Kimball Library holds 21,000 books and other items, but the average item went out about once every two years last year. What people borrow ↓
Most programs are for young children
65% of the 123 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 1.2 a week for ages 0–5. 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 Troy’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Troy is ahead of 50% of U.S. towns. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Troy’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
3 community nonprofits are registered in Troy
1.5 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 (0 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
10.3%
10.3% of Troy’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 Troy’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Gay-Kimball Library serves 2,148 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 12 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
14K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 21K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.6 time last year, on average.
2,078 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 kids’ programs 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 Troy last year.
Find it
Gay-Kimball Library, 10 South Main Street, Troy.
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 Troy? 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 $2.17 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Troy cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $113K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $245K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $113K 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 1,445 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Troy ranks 3rd of 6 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jaffrey | Jaffrey Public Library fine-free | 11.5 | 44 | A |
| Fitzwilliam | Fitzwilliam Town Library | 7.8 | 20 | A |
| Troy | Gay-Kimball Library fine-free | 6.4 | 23 | B− |
| Marlborough | Frost Free Library fine-free | 4.1 | 27 | A− |
| Richmond | Richmond Public Library fine-free | 3.6 | 15 | C |
| 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.
- 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 Troy
Does Troy have a public library?
Yes. Gay-Kimball Library, 10 South Main Street, serves Troy’s 2,148 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 23 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Gay-Kimball 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 Troy’s library?
It logged 4.1 visits and lent 6.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Troy’s civic life grade?
B− Troy is ahead of 50% 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 Troy.
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.