Burns’ library logs 0.6 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Essential Club Free Library serves Burns’s 1,036 residents. Last year it lent 2,545 books, movies and e-books and logged 630 visits.
What Burns’s library is like
Essential Club Free Library is used less than most libraries its size
Essential Club Free Library records 0.6 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Borrowing is 1.7 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. How it compares ↓
A small-town library
Essential Club Free Library serves 1,036 residents with about one full-time staff. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
Open only about 22 hours a week
Essential Club Free Library keeps short hours: about 22 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
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 Burns’ civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Burns is ahead of 33% of U.S. towns. Burns’ count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($48K–$81K) 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 →
6 community nonprofits are registered in Burns
6.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.5%
6.5% of Burns’ 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 Burns’ residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Essential Club Free Library serves 1,036 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 2 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
2,545 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 7,125 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.2 time last year, on average.
796 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
36 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 Burns last year.
Find it
Essential Club Free Library, 11 Pratt Street, Canaseraga.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Burns? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Burns cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $50K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $41K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $50K 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 281 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Almond | Almond Twentieth Century Club Library fine-free | 13.0 | 32 | B− |
| Burns | Essential Club Free Library fine-free | 2.5 | 22 | C |
| Hornellsville | Arkport Public Library fine-free | — | 27 | D− |
| Dansville | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Ossian | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Grove | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Birdsall | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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. Essential Club Free Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Burns
Does Burns have a public library?
Yes. Essential Club Free Library, 11 Pratt Street, serves Burns’ 1,036 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 22 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Essential Club 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 Burns’ library?
It logged 0.6 visits and lent 2.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Burns’ civic life grade?
C Burns is ahead of 33% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Burns.
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.