Photo: VTviking · CC BY-SA 3.0Townshend’s library logs 2.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Townshend Public serves Townshend’s 1,619 residents. Last year it lent 5,107 books, movies and e-books and logged 3,739 visits.
The short version on Townshend’s library
A small-town library
Townshend Public serves 1,619 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
36% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 64%. What your card is worth ↓
Open only about 22 hours a week
Townshend Public keeps short hours: about 22 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 14% of the people Townshend Public serves have a library card, against a typical 54% for its size. How it compares ↓
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 Townshend’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Townshend is ahead of 75% of U.S. towns. Townshend’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 →
13 community nonprofits are registered in Townshend
8.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (0 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.7%
9.7% of Townshend’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 Townshend’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Townshend Public serves 1,619 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
5,107 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
The survey has no count of children’s loans for Townshend’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
Each of the 15K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.3 time last year, on average.
1,030 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
76 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
Find it
Townshend Public, 1971 Rte. 30, Townshend.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Townshend? 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 $1.08 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Townshend cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $86K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $93K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $86K 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 222 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Townshend | Townshend Public fine-free | 3.2 | 22 | A− |
| Jamaica | Jamaica Free Public fine-free | 1.8 | 18 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Wardsboro | Wardsboro Free Public | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Windham | Windham Town | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Grafton | Grafton Public | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Newfane | Moore Free Library fine-free | — | 22 | A+ |
| Athens | 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 Townshend
Does Townshend have a public library?
Yes. Townshend Public, 1971 Rte. 30, serves Townshend’s 1,619 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 22 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Townshend Public 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 Townshend’s library?
It logged 2.3 visits and lent 3.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Townshend’s civic life grade?
A− Townshend is ahead of 75% 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 Townshend.
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.