Major's Inn and Gilbert Block · Photo: Doug Kerr from Albany, New York, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0Butternuts’ library lends 9.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Gilbertsville Free Library serves 308 people in and around Butternuts. Last year it lent 3,043 print books and media and logged 2,610 visits.
What Butternuts’s library is like
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
74% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 18%. What your card is worth ↓
More library cards than residents
365 cards for 308 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
Butternuts out-borrows every town next door
At 9.9 loans per resident, Butternuts leads the four towns here. The closest is New Berlin, at 4.9. Libraries next door ↓
A small-town library
Gilbertsville Free Library serves 308 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 19 hours a week
Gilbertsville Free Library keeps short hours: about 19 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. New Berlin Library in New Berlin, next door, is open about 43 hours a week. 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 Butternuts’ civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Butternuts is ahead of 96% of U.S. towns. Butternuts is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Butternuts’ count of community nonprofits ranks highest.
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 →
14 community nonprofits are registered in Butternuts
7.9 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
11.1%
11.1% of Butternuts’ 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 Butternuts’ residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 3 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Gilbertsville Free Library serves 308 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Books and media off the shelf
3,043 print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 7,839 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
41 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.
Find it
Gilbertsville Free Library, 17 Commercial Street, Gilbertsville.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Butternuts? 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 $1.39 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Butternuts cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $38K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $53K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $38K 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 365 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Butternuts borrows the most per resident of the 4 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Butternuts | Gilbertsville Free Library fine-free | 9.9 | 19 | A+ |
| New Berlin | New Berlin Library | 4.9 | 43 | A− |
| Unadilla | Unadilla Public Library fine-free | 3.5 | 23 | C+ |
| Otego | Harris Memorial Library fine-free | 1.1 | 36 | B− |
| Morris | Morris Library fine-free | — | 25 | A |
| Norwich | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Guilford | 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.
- Digital loans not reported. New York libraries often don’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
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 Butternuts
Does Butternuts have a public library?
Yes. Gilbertsville Free Library, 17 Commercial Street, serves 308 people in and around Butternuts (the survey’s count) and is open about 19 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Gilbertsville 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 Butternuts’ library?
It logged 8.5 visits and lent 9.9 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Butternuts’ civic life grade?
A+ Butternuts is ahead of 96% 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 Butternuts.
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.