Photo: Ascended Dreamer · CC BY-SA 4.0Canaan’s library logs 8.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Alice M. Ward Memorial serves Canaan’s 746 residents. Last year it lent 5,025 books, movies and e-books and logged 6,536 visits.
The short version on Canaan’s library
More library cards than residents
1,320 cards for 746 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 ↓
A small-town library
Alice M. Ward Memorial serves 746 residents with about one 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 ↓
Canaan invests in its library
Alice M. Ward Memorial spends $126 per resident a year, about twice the typical $54 for a library its size. Almost all of it (90%) comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf
Only 6% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 68% 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Canaan’s civic life grade
Canaan 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 →
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Alice M. Ward Memorial serves 746 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.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
5,025 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 11K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
297 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
104 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Canaan last year.
Find it
Alice M. Ward Memorial, 27 Park St., Canaan.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Canaan? 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 $1.04 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Canaan cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $94K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $98K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $94K 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 1,320 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canaan | Alice M. Ward Memorial fine-free | 6.7 | 23 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Colebrook | Colebrook Public Library | 5.2 | 20 | B |
| Pittsburg | Bremer Pond Memorial Library | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Stewartstown | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Beecher Falls | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| West Stewartstown | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Clarksville | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Lemington | 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.
- 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 Canaan
Does Canaan have a public library?
Yes. Alice M. Ward Memorial, 27 Park St., serves Canaan’s 746 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 23 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Alice M. Ward Memorial 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 Canaan’s library?
It logged 8.8 visits and lent 6.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Canaan’s civic life grade?
Canaan 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 Canaan.
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.