Photo: The original uploader was Mld74 at English Wikipedia. · Public domainOneonta’s library logs 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Oneonta Public Library serves 45,011 people in and around Oneonta. Last year it lent 54K books, movies and e-books and logged 34K visits.
What Oneonta’s library is like
Oneonta Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Oneonta Public Library records 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people. Borrowing is 1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7. It also spends less than most: $11 per resident, against a typical $40. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Oneonta Public Library offered 272 programs last year, 6 per 1,000 residents against a typical 14. Kids & programs ↓
Programs lean toward adults
62% of the 272 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 72 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
Runs on less money than most
Oneonta Public Library spends $11 per resident, less than 94% of similar-size libraries (typical: $40). 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; Oneonta Public Library serves 45,011 people in and around Oneonta, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Oneonta’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Oneonta is ahead of 9% of U.S. towns, #124 of 156 in Alabama. Oneonta is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Oneonta’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Oneonta Public Library spends $11 per resident, against a typical $40 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($40K–$67K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
16 community nonprofits are registered in Oneonta
2.4 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 (8 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.0%
5.0% of Oneonta’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 4.8% in the typical Alabama 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 Oneonta’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Oneonta Public Library serves 45,011 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 21 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Oneonta Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
54K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
9,232 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 1 kids’ program 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
Oneonta Public Library, 221 Second Street South, Oneonta.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Oneonta Public Library branch.
New in Oneonta? 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 $1.71 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Oneonta cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $507K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $868K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $507K 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 23,062 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Oneonta Public Library serves 45,011 people in and around Oneonta, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Oneonta.
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 Oneonta
Does Oneonta have a public library?
Yes. Oneonta Public Library, 221 Second Street South, serves 45,011 people in and around Oneonta (the survey’s count) and is open about 49 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Oneonta 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 Oneonta’s library?
It logged 0.8 visits and lent 1.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Oneonta’s civic life grade?
D Oneonta is ahead of 9% of U.S. towns on civic life, #124 of 156 in Alabama. 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 Oneonta.
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.