Photo: Justin A. Wilcox from Washington, D.C., United States · CC BY-SA 2.0Romney’s library runs 9.3 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Hampshire County Public Library serves 18,474 people in and around Romney. Last year it lent 39K books, movies and e-books and logged 38K visits.
What Romney’s library is like
West Virginia pays a big share
29% of the budget comes from the state, and 63% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Most programs are for young children
66% of the 171 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 1.2 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
73% of the people it serves carry a library card
13,412 cards for 18,474 people, or 73%. At the typical library serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, it’s 40%. 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; Hampshire County Public Library serves 18,474 people in and around Romney, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Romney’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Romney is ahead of 50% of U.S. towns. Romney is graded on two of the three inputs. Romney’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 →
9 community nonprofits are registered in Romney
4.8 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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.5%
6.5% of Romney’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.9% in the typical West Virginia 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 Romney’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Hampshire County Public Library serves 18,474 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 15 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Hampshire County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
39K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
The survey has no count of children’s loans for Romney’s library in 2024, so there’s no split between adults’ and kids’ borrowing.
12,216 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 kids’ programs a week
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.
Find it
Hampshire County Public Library, 153 West Main Street, Romney.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Hampshire County Public Library branch.
New in Romney? 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 $2.13 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Romney cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $322K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $686K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $322K 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 13,412 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Hampshire County Public Library serves 18,474 people in and around Romney, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Romney.
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 Romney
Does Romney have a public library?
Yes. Hampshire County Public Library, 153 West Main Street, serves 18,474 people in and around Romney (the survey’s count) and is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Hampshire County Public Library 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 Romney’s library?
It logged 2.0 visits and lent 2.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Romney’s civic life grade?
B− Romney is ahead of 50% 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 Romney.
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.