Photo: Doug Kerr · CC BY-SA 2.0Adams Center’s library logs 1.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Adams Center Free Library serves Adams Center’s 1,492 residents. Last year it lent 2,966 print books and media and logged 2,800 visits.
What Adams Center’s library is like
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving under 2,500 people, Adams Center Free Library sits below the middle on all six per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on three. How it compares ↓
A small-town library
Adams Center Free Library serves 1,492 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 ↓
Open only about 22 hours a week
Adams Center Free Library keeps short hours: about 22 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
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 Adams Center’s civic life grade
Adams Center isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Adams Center Free Library serves 1,492 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 3 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
2,966 print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 5,152 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.6 time last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
52 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Adams Center last year.
Find it
Adams Center Free Library, 18267 State Route 177, Adams Center.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Adams Center? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Adams Center cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $88K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $46K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $88K 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 766 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Digital loans not reported. New York libraries often don’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
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 Adams Center
Does Adams Center have a public library?
Yes. Adams Center Free Library, 18267 State Route 177, serves Adams Center’s 1,492 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 22 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Adams Center Free Library 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 Adams Center’s library?
It logged 1.9 visits and lent 2.0 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Adams Center’s civic life grade?
Adams Center isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Adams Center.
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.