Newburgh’s library logs 0.2 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Gary W. Woolson Community Library serves Newburgh’s 1,678 residents. Last year it lent 750 books, movies and e-books and logged 367 visits.
What Newburgh’s library is like
Gary W. Woolson Community Library is used less than most libraries its size
Gary W. Woolson Community Library records 0.2 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Borrowing is 0.4 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $0 per resident, against a typical $54. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Gary W. Woolson Community Library offered 0 programs last year, 0 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
A small-town library
Gary W. Woolson Community Library serves 1,678 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 ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 17% of the people Gary W. Woolson Community Library serves have a library card, against a typical 54% for its size. How it compares ↓
Runs on less money than most
Gary W. Woolson Community Library spends $0 per resident, less than 99% of similar-size libraries (typical: $54). 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Newburgh’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Newburgh is ahead of 47% of U.S. towns. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups 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 →
7 community nonprofits are registered in Newburgh
4.7 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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
10.5%
10.5% of Newburgh’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 9.0% in the typical Maine 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 Newburgh’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Gary W. Woolson Community Library serves 1,678 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.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
750 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 11K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.1 time last year, on average.
What kids borrow
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Newburgh last year.
Find it
Gary W. Woolson Community Library, 2220 Western Avenue, Newburgh.
No late fees. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting.
New in Newburgh? 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 $13.36 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Newburgh cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $822.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $11K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $822 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 293 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Newburgh ranks 3rd of 3 for borrowing per resident. 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.
- 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 Newburgh
Does Newburgh have a public library?
Yes. Gary W. Woolson Community Library, 2220 Western Avenue, serves Newburgh’s 1,678 residents (the survey’s count).
Is Gary W. Woolson Community Library fine-free?
Yes, no late fees (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Newburgh’s library?
It logged 0.2 visits and lent 0.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Newburgh’s civic life grade?
B− Newburgh is ahead of 47% 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 Newburgh.
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.