Yale-Cady Octagon House and Yale Lock Factory Site · Photo: Octavia Graystone · CC BY-SA 3.0Newport’s library logs 7.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Newport Free Library serves 543 people in and around Newport. Last year it lent 5,478 books, movies and e-books and logged 4,011 visits.
The short version on Newport’s library
More library cards than residents
791 cards for 543 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
Programs are almost all for children
90% of the 79 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including 47 for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
A small-town library
Newport Free Library serves 543 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 25 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 ↓
Programs draw a crowd
1,480 people came to the library’s 79 programs last year: 2.7 per resident, against a typical 0.7, more than at 91% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
Newport invests in its library
Newport Free Library spends $129 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 Newport’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Newport is ahead of 69% of U.S. towns. Newport is graded on two of the three inputs. Newport’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups 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 →
10 community nonprofits are registered in Newport
6.0 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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.2%
7.2% of Newport’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.4% in the typical New York 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 Newport’s residents live; 2022.
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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Newport Free Library serves 543 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 4 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
5,478 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 14K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.3 time last year, on average.
1,382 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Newport Free Library, 7390 Main Street, Newport.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Newport? 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 $1.35 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Newport cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $70K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $95K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $70K 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 791 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newport | Newport Free Library fine-free | 10.1 | 25 | B+ |
| Fairfield | Middleville Free Library fine-free | 4.0 | 12 | B |
| Russia | Poland District Public Library fine-free | — | 28 | C− |
| Herkimer | Frank J. Basloe Public Library | — | 51 | C+ |
| Norway | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Schuyler | None of its own | — | — | D− |
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 Newport
Does Newport have a public library?
Yes. Newport Free Library, 7390 Main Street, serves 543 people in and around Newport (the survey’s count) and is open about 25 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Newport Free 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 Newport’s library?
It logged 7.4 visits and lent 10.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Newport’s civic life grade?
B+ Newport is ahead of 69% 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 Newport.
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.