Photo: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 4.0Richmond’s library logs 1.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Clark Memorial Library serves Richmond’s 8,020 residents. Last year it lent 37K books, movies and e-books and logged 11K visits.
What Richmond’s library is like
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Clark Memorial Library charges late fines on some overdue items. Five of the six libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
27% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 56%. What your card is worth ↓
Programs lean toward adults
63% of the 175 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 43 were for children. 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.
What’s behind Richmond’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Richmond is ahead of 49% of U.S. towns, #18 of 38 in Rhode Island. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups 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 →
38 community nonprofits are registered in Richmond
4.6 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 (5 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
9.3%
9.3% of Richmond’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.4% in the typical Rhode Island 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 Richmond’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Clark Memorial Library serves 8,020 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 19 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
37K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 23K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.2 time last year, on average.
10,288 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
175 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 Richmond last year.
Find it
Clark Memorial Library, 7 Pinehurst Drive, Richmond.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Richmond? 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 $3.43 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Richmond cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $166K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $569K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $166K 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 1,600 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Richmond ranks 6th of 7 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charlestown | Cross' Mills Public Library fine-free | 11.7 | 42 | A− |
| Exeter | Exeter Public Library fine-free | 9.2 | 43 | B |
| South Kingstown | South Kingstown Public Library fine-free | 8.1 | 52 | B |
| Hopkinton | Langworthy Public Library fine-free | 6.2 | 33 | B |
| Hope Valley | Langworthy Public Library fine-free | 6.2 | 33 | — graded as part of its town |
| Richmond | Clark Memorial Library | 4.6 | 37 | B− |
| Carolina | Clark Memorial Library | 4.6 | 37 | — graded as part of its town |
| Wyoming | 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. Clark Memorial 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 Richmond
Does Richmond have a public library?
Yes. Clark Memorial Library, 7 Pinehurst Drive, serves Richmond’s 8,020 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 37 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Clark Memorial 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 Richmond’s library?
It logged 1.4 visits and lent 4.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Richmond’s civic life grade?
B− Richmond is ahead of 49% of U.S. towns on civic life, #18 of 38 in Rhode Island. 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 Richmond.
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.