Photo: Malber · CC BY-SA 3.0Dummerston’s library logs 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Lydia Taft Pratt serves Dummerston’s 2,190 residents. Last year it lent 2,553 books, movies and e-books and logged 1,502 visits.
What Dummerston’s library is like
Lydia Taft Pratt is used less than most libraries its size
Lydia Taft Pratt records 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Borrowing is 0.8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $14 per resident, against a typical $54. How it compares ↓
Every town next door borrows more
Dummerston’s library lends 1.2 items per resident. Each of the four neighboring towns with a library of its own lends more, led by Brattleboro at 13. Libraries next door ↓
Open only about 16 hours a week
Lydia Taft Pratt keeps short hours: about 16 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Brooks Memorial in Brattleboro, next door, is open about 56 hours a week. The building ↓
A small-town library
Lydia Taft Pratt serves 2,190 residents with about one full-time staff. 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 ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
35% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 62%. 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 Dummerston’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Dummerston is ahead of 64% of U.S. towns. 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 →
14 community nonprofits are registered in Dummerston
6.9 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: arts & culture.
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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
12.0%
12.0% of Dummerston’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 Dummerston’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Lydia Taft Pratt serves 2,190 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 3 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
2,553 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 6,033 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.3 time last year, on average.
825 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
37 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.
Find it
Lydia Taft Pratt, 150 West St., West Dummerston.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Dummerston? 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 $1.51 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Dummerston cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $30K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $45K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $30K 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 540 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Dummerston ranks 5th of 5 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brattleboro | Brooks Memorial | 12.9 | 56 | A+ |
| Putney | Putney Public fine-free | 11.6 | 41 | A+ |
| Chesterfield | Chesterfield Public Library fine-free | 5.2 | 35 | B+ |
| Westmoreland | Westmoreland Public Library fine-free | 3.5 | 20 | A |
| Dummerston | Lydia Taft Pratt fine-free | 1.2 | 16 | B |
| Newfane | Moore Free Library fine-free | — | 22 | A+ |
| Marlboro | None of its own | — | — | — too few inputs |
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. Lydia Taft Pratt 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 Dummerston
Does Dummerston have a public library?
Yes. Lydia Taft Pratt, 150 West St., serves Dummerston’s 2,190 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 16 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lydia Taft Pratt 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 Dummerston’s library?
It logged 0.7 visits and lent 1.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Dummerston’s civic life grade?
B Dummerston is ahead of 64% 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 Dummerston.
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.