Jerry E. Dickerman House · Photo: Midatlanticyank · CC BY-SA 4.0Newport’s library lends 4.8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Goodrich Memorial serves 6,457 people in and around Newport. Last year it lent 32K books, movies and e-books and logged 18K visits.
The short version on Newport’s library
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
37% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 62%. What your card is worth ↓
The branch is a National Register landmark
Goodrich Memorial Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1983. Today’s library there has 11,400 square feet. The building ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 14% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 42% for its size. How it compares ↓
Programs lean toward adults
80% of the 119 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 22 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf
Only 3% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 87% 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; Goodrich Memorial serves 6,457 people in and around Newport, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Newport’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Newport is ahead of 68% of U.S. towns, #44 of 71 in Vermont. Newport is graded on two of the three inputs. Newport’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 →
60 community nonprofits are registered in Newport
13.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (8 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.9%
5.9% of Newport’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 Newport’s residents live; 2022.
A National Register landmark since 1983
Goodrich Memorial, 202 Main St., Newport.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Goodrich Memorial branch.
New in Newport? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Goodrich Memorial Library
Goodrich Memorial Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Nov 23, 1983. It is significant for its architecture at the state level. Its architecture is described as Queen Anne and Romanesque.
The Goodrich Memorial Library is a public library in Newport, Orleans County, Vermont. It is the largest and only one of two full-time libraries in the county. It is located at 202 Main Street in downtown Newport, in a Romanesque building constructed in 1899.
More about the building →Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Goodrich Memorial serves 6,457 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 14 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Goodrich Memorial system. The library’s own count.
Not reported for 2024: public computers. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
32K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
880 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
119 programs a year
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.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.63 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Newport cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $189K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $497K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $189K 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 908 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.
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.
- Not reported for 2024: public computers. The survey filled the figure with its own estimate, so it is left out.
- System-wide. Goodrich Memorial serves 6,457 people in and around Newport, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Newport.
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 Newport
Does Newport have a public library?
Yes. Goodrich Memorial, 202 Main St., serves 6,457 people in and around Newport (the survey’s count) and is open about 44 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Goodrich 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 Newport’s library?
It logged 2.8 visits and lent 5.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Newport’s civic life grade?
B+ Newport is ahead of 68% of U.S. towns on civic life, #44 of 71 in Vermont. 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 Newport.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.