Photo: J. Passepartout · CC BY-SA 4.0Bath’s library runs 50 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Dormann Library serves 10,507 people in and around Bath. Last year it lent 42K books, movies and e-books and logged 15K visits.
What Bath’s library is like
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
45% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 44%. What your card is worth ↓
The branch is a National Register landmark
Davenport Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1983. Today’s library there has 13,273 square feet. The buildings ↓
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; Dormann Library serves 10,507 people in and around Bath, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Bath’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Bath is ahead of 17% of U.S. towns, #648 of 751 in New York. Bath’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Bath’s 2024 visits are an estimate from one typical week (the survey’s method for libraries that don’t count every visit).
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($37K–$62K) 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 →
48 community nonprofits are registered in Bath
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 (6 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
4.5%
4.5% of Bath’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 Bath’s residents live; 2022.
About 5 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Dormann Library serves 10,507 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 18 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Dormann Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
42K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
8,844 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
A National Register landmark since 1983
Dormann Library, 101 West Morris Street, Bath.
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 Dormann Library branch.
New in Bath? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Davenport Library
Davenport Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Sep 30, 1983. It is significant for its town planning and education at the local level. Its architecture is described as Colonial Revival and Greek Revival. It was listed as part of Bath Village MRA.
Davenport Library is a historic home located at Bath in Steuben County, New York. It is a two-story brick structure built about 1830 in the Greek Revival style. The building was altered sometime between 1893 and 1915 after it became a library. It was at this time that Colonial Revival details were added.
More about the building →Other Dormann Library branches in Bath
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.16 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Bath cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $635K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $736K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $635K 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 4,399 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.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Urbana | Fred & Harriett Taylor Memorial Library fine-free | 11.2 | 43 | A− |
| Howard | Howard Public Library fine-free | 3.3 | 22 | D |
| Avoca | Avoca Free Library fine-free | 2.6 | 34 | C− |
| Bath | Dormann Library fine-free | — | 44 | C− |
| Wheeler | None of its own | — | — | C |
| Bradford | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Cameron | None of its own | — | — | — graded with its twin city |
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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Dormann Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
- System-wide. Dormann Library serves 10,507 people in and around Bath, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Bath.
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 Bath
Does Bath have a public library?
Yes. Dormann Library, 101 West Morris Street, serves 10,507 people in and around Bath (the survey’s count) and is open about 44 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Dormann 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 Bath’s library?
It logged 1.4 visits and lent 4.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Bath’s civic life grade?
C− Bath is ahead of 17% of U.S. towns on civic life, #648 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 Bath.
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.