Brock Hill Schoolhouse · Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 3.0Newbury’s library logs 5.2 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Baldwin Memorial serves 1,199 people in and around Newbury. Last year it lent 4,112 books, movies and e-books and logged 6,240 visits.
The short version on Newbury’s library
Few programs for a library this size
Baldwin Memorial offered 4 programs last year, 3.3 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
Open only about 20 hours a week
The Newbury branch keeps short hours: about 20 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The buildings ↓
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; Baldwin Memorial serves 1,199 people in and around Newbury, and its numbers cover all of them; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Newbury’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Newbury is ahead of 65% of U.S. towns. Newbury is graded on two of the three inputs. Newbury’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls 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 Newbury
9.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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.
5.8%
5.8% of Newbury’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 Newbury’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Baldwin Memorial serves 1,199 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, for the whole Baldwin Memorial system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
4,112 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
The survey has no count of children’s loans for Newbury’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
787 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
4 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
2 places to borrow in Newbury
Baldwin Memorial, 33 Main St., Wells River.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Baldwin Memorial branch.
New in Newbury? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other Baldwin Memorial branches in Newbury
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.41 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Newbury cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $49K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $70K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $49K 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 463 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bath | Bath Public Library fine-free | 15.0 | 21 | B+ |
| Bradford | Bradford Public fine-free | 4.3 | 28 | A− |
| Haverhill | Haverhill Library Association fine-free | 1.4 | 16 | B |
| Newbury | Baldwin Memorial fine-free | — | 20 | B |
| North Haverhill | Patten-North Haverhill Library fine-free | — | 10 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Wells River | Baldwin Memorial fine-free | — | 20 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Ryegate | South Ryegate Public | — | — | — too few inputs |
| Woodsville | Woodsville Free Public Library fine-free | — | 16 | — graded as part of its town |
| Topsham | None of its own | — | — | A |
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. Baldwin Memorial counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
- System-wide. Baldwin Memorial serves 1,199 people in and around Newbury, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Newbury.
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 Newbury
Does Newbury have a public library?
Yes. Baldwin Memorial, 33 Main St., serves 1,199 people in and around Newbury (the survey’s count) and is open about 20 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Baldwin 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 Newbury’s library?
It logged 5.2 visits and lent 3.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Newbury’s civic life grade?
B Newbury is ahead of 65% 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 Newbury.
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.