Photo: Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0Dorset’s library runs 151 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60 for libraries its size
Dorset Village Public serves Dorset’s 1,969 residents. Last year it lent 12K print books and media and logged 5,960 visits.
What Dorset’s library is like
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
87% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 12%. What your card is worth ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Dorset Village Public charges late fines on some overdue items. Three of the four libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
A place to get online
Dorset Village Public logs about 58 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 2 public computers. That’s 11 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
Programs lean toward adults
64% of the 298 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 42 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Dorset’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Dorset is ahead of 78% of U.S. towns. Dorset’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
21 community nonprofits are registered in Dorset
10.2 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
8.8%
8.8% of Dorset’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.5% in the typical Vermont 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 Dorset’s residents live; 2022.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.26 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Dorset cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $210K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $265K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $210K 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 726 cardholders ÷ 12.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Dorset Village Public serves 1,969 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 7 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
12K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 19K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.7 time last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
298 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 Dorset last year.
Find it
Dorset Village Public, Rte. 30 & Church St., Dorset.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Dorset? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Libraries next door
Dorset ranks 2nd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manchester | Manchester Community Library fine-free | 7.8 | 46 | A+ |
| Dorset | Dorset Village Public | 6.3 | 35 | A− |
| Rupert | R.K. Kittay Public fine-free | 1.0 | 15 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Danby | S.L. Griffith Memorial Library | — | — | A− |
| Winhall | Winhall Memorial fine-free | — | 17 | — too few inputs |
| Mount Tabor | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Peru | 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.
- Digital loans not reported. Vermont libraries often don’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
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 Dorset
Does Dorset have a public library?
Yes. Dorset Village Public, Rte. 30 & Church St., serves Dorset’s 1,969 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 35 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Dorset Village Public 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 Dorset’s library?
It logged 3.0 visits and lent 6.3 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Dorset’s civic life grade?
A− Dorset is ahead of 78% 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 Dorset.
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.