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Jackson-Perkins HouseJackson-Perkins House · Photo: Dmadeo · CC BY-SA 3.0
Newark Public Library

Arcadia’s library runs 48 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size

Newark Public Library serves 14,533 people in and around Arcadia. Last year it lent 66K books, movies and e-books and logged 57K visits.

121 High Street, Newark 14513 · about 50 hours a week
B+Civic lifeAhead of 71% of U.S. towns · #208 of 751 in New York. Library visits, nonprofits and volunteering.
Borrowed a year
66K
4.5 per resident
Visits a year
57K
3.9 per resident · Above typical (3.1)
Programs & events
699
about 13 a week · 5,898 attended
Cardholders
30%
4,294 cards
Open
50 hrs
a week at this branch

What stands out about Newark Public Library

Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.

Civic life grade

What’s behind Arcadia’s civic life grade

On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Arcadia is ahead of 71% of U.S. towns, #208 of 751 in New York. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups ranks highest.

B+
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Arcadia’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 71%
FewerMore
New York towns we grade (751)Ahead of 72%
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $48K–$79K (8,300)Ahead of 69%

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.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. The volunteering share is a 2022 estimate from Facebook users aged 25–44.

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 →

Places to belong

51 community nonprofits are registered in Arcadia

3.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture50.37 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation20.15 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans90.68 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services141.04 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education40.30 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.43
Health20.15 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.16
Environment & animals30.22 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.17
Other110.82 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.47

Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (15 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.

Volunteering

10.7%

10.7% of Arcadia’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 Arcadia’s residents live; 2022.

★ What stands out · Kids & programs

About 5 kids’ programs a week

Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.

Schools in Arcadia →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–5177
Ages 6–1168
Teens63
Adults311
All ages80
Little ones
3.4

story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.

19K
kids’ books & media borrowed
5,898
people at programs
699
programs
How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 3.9 visits · typical 3.1Higher than 64%
Borrowing per resident 3.5 print items · typical 3.9Lower than 56%
Digital borrowing 1 e-items · typical 1.1Lower than 53%
Kids’ borrowing 1.3 kids’ items · typical 1.8Lower than 62%
Program attendance 0.4 attendees · typical 0.4Lower than 53%
Programs offered 48.1 per 1,000 residents · typical 24Higher than 85%
Cardholders 30% of residents · typical 40%Lower than 69%
Spending $51 per resident · typical $43Higher than 60%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

Newark Public Library serves 14,533 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.

A year at the library

Every hour the doors are open, about 25 items go out

Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Newark Public Library system. The library’s own count.

57K
visits
3.9 per resident
66K
loans, print + digital
4.5 per resident
699
programs & events
5,898 attended
4,294
library cards
30% of people served
Every open hour25items borrowed
Every week113people at a program
Every day11Wi-Fi sessions
13 staff (full-time equivalent)14 public computers
What people borrow

Mostly books and media off the shelf

66K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.

66Kloans
Books & media (adults) 49%Kids’ books & media 29%E-books, audio & streaming 22%
From your couch

14,441 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.

The building

Find it

Newark Public Library, 121 High Street, Newark.

50
hours open a week
16,500
square feet
With a card

No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Newark Public Library branch.

New in Arcadia? The Handbook →

Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.

What your card is worth

For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.44 worth

Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Arcadia cardholder borrows.

In a month I’d use…
Books$17 each
1
Kids’ books$12 each
0
E-books & audio$15 each
0
Movies & music$4 each
0
Programs & classes$10 a program
0
Computer & Wi-Fi$3 a session
0
Your card saves you about
$204
a year at retail prices · $17 a month

Who pays for it
$51 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $742K.

Local taxes 88%State 1%Gifts & other 11%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $742K 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 4,294 cardholders ÷ 12.

Next door

Libraries next door

Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.

12+ loans per resident8–124–8Under 4No library / shared system
TownLibraryLoans per residentHoursCivic life
ManchesterClifton Springs Library fine-free17.047A−
PalmyraPalmyra Community Library fine-free8.150B+
ArcadiaNewark Public Library fine-free—50B+
LyonsLyons Public Library fine-free—47A−
SodusSodus Community Library fine-free—59A−

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).

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.

  • System-wide. Newark Public Library serves 14,533 people in and around Arcadia, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Arcadia.

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 Arcadia

Does Arcadia have a public library?

Yes. Newark Public Library, 121 High Street, serves 14,533 people in and around Arcadia (the survey’s count) and is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Newark Public 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 Arcadia’s library?

It logged 3.9 visits and lent 4.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.

What is Arcadia’s civic life grade?

B+ Arcadia is ahead of 71% of U.S. towns on civic life, #208 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 Arcadia.

Town Square →
Start a conversation

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.