Caleb Whittaker Place · Photo: User:Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0Weare’s library runs 46 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Weare Public Library serves Weare’s 9,185 residents. Last year it lent 48K books, movies and e-books and logged 24K visits.
Weare’s library, in brief
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Weare Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. Five of the six libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 59% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 62% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
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 Weare’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Weare is ahead of 47% of U.S. towns, #77 of 126 in New Hampshire. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Weare’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 →
25 community nonprofits are registered in Weare
2.7 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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
10.7%
10.7% of Weare’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 Weare’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Weare Public Library serves 9,185 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 21 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
48K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 23K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.4 time last year, on average.
15,385 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 3 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 Weare last year.
Find it
Weare Public Library, 10 Paige Memorial Lane, Weare.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Weare? 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 $3.07 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Weare cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $241K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $742K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $241K 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 5,750 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Weare ranks 5th of 6 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hopkinton | Hopkinton Town Library fine-free | 14.9 | 38 | A− |
| Francestown | George Holmes Bixby Memorial Library fine-free | 9.4 | 29 | A− |
| Henniker | Tucker Free Library fine-free | 7.3 | 29 | B |
| Goffstown | Goffstown Public Library fine-free | 5.3 | 51 | C+ |
| Weare | Weare Public Library | 5.2 | 45 | B− |
| Dunbarton | Dunbarton Public Library fine-free | 4.9 | 32 | C |
| Deering | Deering Public Library | — | — | A− |
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 Weare
Does Weare have a public library?
Yes. Weare Public Library, 10 Paige Memorial Lane, serves Weare’s 9,185 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 45 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Weare Public 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 Weare’s library?
It logged 2.6 visits and lent 5.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Weare’s civic life grade?
B− Weare is ahead of 47% of U.S. towns on civic life, #77 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 Weare.
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.