Photo: Beyond My Ken · CC BY-SA 4.0Auburn’s library runs 20 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Seymour Public Library District serves 33,261 people in and around Auburn. Last year it lent 133K books, movies and e-books and logged 42K visits.
What Auburn’s library is like
The branch is a National Register landmark
Case Memorial-Seymour Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1980. Today’s library there has 20,000 square feet. The building ↓
Programs lean toward adults
58% of the 664 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 233 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
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; Seymour Public Library District serves 33,261 people in and around Auburn, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Auburn’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Auburn is ahead of 64% of U.S. towns, #251 of 751 in New York. Auburn is graded on two of the three inputs. Auburn’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 →
172 community nonprofits are registered in Auburn
6.6 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 (27 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.
6.5%
6.5% of Auburn’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 Auburn’s residents live; 2022.
A National Register landmark since 1980
Seymour Public Library District, 176-178 Genesee Street, Auburn.
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 Seymour Public Library District branch.
New in Auburn? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Case Memorial-Seymour Library
Case Memorial-Seymour Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 6, 1980. It is significant for its architecture at the local level. Its architecture is described as Beaux Arts.
The Case Memorial-Seymour Library is a historic library building located at 176 Genesee Street in Auburn. It was built in 1898 and as designed by architects Carrère and Hastings, in the Beaux-Arts style. It is a square, two story, three bay building constructed of Flemish bond brick and limestone topped by a hipped roof. It opened in 1903 and was expanded in 1972.
More about the building →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.
Seymour Public Library District serves 33,261 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 46 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Seymour Public Library District system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
133K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
18,624 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 4 kids’ programs 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.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.96 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Auburn cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.1M 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 9,873 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. 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.
- System-wide. Seymour Public Library District serves 33,261 people in and around Auburn, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Auburn.
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 Auburn
Does Auburn have a public library?
Yes. Seymour Public Library District, 176-178 Genesee Street, serves 33,261 people in and around Auburn (the survey’s count) and is open about 56 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Seymour Public Library District 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 Auburn’s library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 4.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Auburn’s civic life grade?
B Auburn is ahead of 64% of U.S. towns on civic life, #251 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 Auburn.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.