Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel · CC BY-SA 4.0Bainbridge’s library logs 1.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Bainbridge Free Library serves Bainbridge’s 3,060 residents. Last year it lent 8,376 books, movies and e-books and logged 4,425 visits.
What stands out about Bainbridge’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Bainbridge’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Bainbridge is ahead of 44% of U.S. towns, #415 of 751 in New York. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($45K–$75K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
13 community nonprofits are registered in Bainbridge
4.2 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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.1%
9.1% of Bainbridge’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 Bainbridge’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Bainbridge Free Library serves 3,060 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 6 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
8,376 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 8,645 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.8 time last year, on average.
1,593 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
70 programs a year
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.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Bainbridge last year.
Find it
Bainbridge Free Library, 13 North Main Street, Bainbridge.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Bainbridge? 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 $1.79 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Bainbridge cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $79K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $142K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $79K 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 1,048 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Bainbridge ranks 3rd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unadilla | Unadilla Public Library fine-free | 3.5 | 23 | C+ |
| Afton | Afton Free Library | 2.8 | 30 | C+ |
| Bainbridge | Bainbridge Free Library fine-free | 2.7 | 25 | C+ |
| Masonville | Masonville Branch Library fine-free | — | 23 | C+ |
| Sidney | Sidney Memorial Public Library fine-free | — | 60 | A+ |
| Sidney | Sidney Memorial Public Library fine-free | — | 60 | A |
| Guilford | None of its own | — | — | B |
| Coventry | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
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 Bainbridge
Does Bainbridge have a public library?
Yes. Bainbridge Free Library, 13 North Main Street, serves Bainbridge’s 3,060 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 25 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Bainbridge 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 Bainbridge’s library?
It logged 1.4 visits and lent 2.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Bainbridge’s civic life grade?
C+ Bainbridge is ahead of 44% of U.S. towns on civic life, #415 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 Bainbridge.
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.