Photo: Jiri Eischmann/Sesivany · CC BY-SA 3.0Alexandria’s library logs 14 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Macsherry Library serves 924 people in and around Alexandria. Last year it lent 13K print books and media and logged 13K visits.
The short version on Alexandria’s library
More library cards than residents
1,819 cards for 924 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
Alexandria uses its library more than almost any town its size
Macsherry Library logs 14 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people, and lends 14 print items per resident against a typical 3.9. On both counts it beats 93% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
Alexandria out-borrows every town next door
At 14 loans per resident, Alexandria leads the four towns here. The closest is Theresa, at 1.8. Libraries next door ↓
Five times the programs of a typical library its size
Macsherry Library ran 275 programs last year, about 5 a week. That’s 298 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60. People show up: 3,843 attended. Kids & programs ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
39% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 59%. 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 Alexandria’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Alexandria is ahead of 78% of U.S. towns, #149 of 751 in New York. Alexandria is graded on two of the three inputs. Alexandria’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 →
29 community nonprofits are registered in Alexandria
7.9 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 (6 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.3%
7.3% of Alexandria’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.4% in the typical New York 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 Alexandria’s residents live; 2022.
About 3 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Macsherry Library serves 924 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 5 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
13K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 22K 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.
Find it
Macsherry Library, 112 Walton Street, Alexandria Bay.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Alexandria? 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 $1.72 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Alexandria cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $149K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $257K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $149K 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 1,819 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Alexandria borrows the most per resident of the 4 towns here. 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.
- 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 Alexandria
Does Alexandria have a public library?
Yes. Macsherry Library, 112 Walton Street, serves 924 people in and around Alexandria (the survey’s count) and is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Macsherry 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 Alexandria’s library?
It logged 13.7 visits and lent 13.8 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Alexandria’s civic life grade?
A− Alexandria is ahead of 78% of U.S. towns on civic life, #149 of 751 in New York. 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 Alexandria.
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.