Photo: AlbertHerring · CC BY-SA 3.0Heathsville’s library runs 33 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Northumberland Public Library serves 11,634 people in and around Heathsville. Last year it lent 316K books, movies and e-books and logged 28K visits.
What stands out about Northumberland Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Heathsville’s civic life grade
Heathsville isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
95% of borrowing is digital
316K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
300,304 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 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Northumberland Public Library serves 11,634 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 95 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Northumberland Public Library system. The library’s own count.
About 4 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
Find it
Northumberland Public Library, 7204 Northumberland Highway, Heathsville.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Northumberland Public Library branch.
New in Heathsville? 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 $8.81 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Heathsville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $554K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4.9M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $554K 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 4,409 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Northumberland Public Library serves 11,634 people in and around Heathsville, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Heathsville.
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 Heathsville
Does Heathsville have a public library?
Yes. Northumberland Public Library, 7204 Northumberland Highway, serves 11,634 people in and around Heathsville (the survey’s count) and is open about 54 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Northumberland 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 Heathsville’s library?
It logged 2.4 visits and lent 27.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Heathsville’s civic life grade?
Heathsville isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Heathsville.
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.