Photo: Doug Kerr from Albany, New York, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0Cherry Valley’s library logs 1.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Cherry Valley Memorial Library serves Cherry Valley’s 1,229 residents. Last year it lent 3,770 books, movies and e-books and logged 2,059 visits.
Cherry Valley’s library, in brief
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving under 2,500 people, Cherry Valley Memorial Library sits below the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on five. How it compares ↓
A small-town library
Cherry Valley Memorial Library serves 1,229 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 20 hours a week
Cherry Valley Memorial Library keeps short hours: about 20 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Fort Plain Free Library in Minden, next door, is open about 40 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 Cherry Valley’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Cherry Valley is ahead of 75% of U.S. towns. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull 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 →
7 community nonprofits are registered in Cherry Valley
6.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: arts & culture.
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.
15.3%
15.3% of Cherry Valley’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 Cherry Valley’s 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.
Cherry Valley Memorial Library serves 1,229 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 4 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
3,770 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 6,881 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
726 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
33 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 Cherry Valley last year.
Find it
Cherry Valley Memorial Library, 61 Main Street, Cherry Valley.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Cherry Valley? 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 $1.03 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Cherry Valley cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $60K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $62K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $60K 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 326 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Cherry Valley ranks 2nd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sharon | Sharon Springs Free Library fine-free | 7.4 | 32 | A− |
| Cherry Valley | Cherry Valley Memorial Library fine-free | 3.1 | 20 | A− |
| Springfield | Springfield Library fine-free | 2.8 | 20 | A+ |
| Canajoharie | Canajoharie Library and Art Gallery fine-free | — | 37 | A− |
| Minden | Fort Plain Free Library fine-free | — | 40 | C |
| Roseboom | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Middlefield | None of its own | — | — | A+ |
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 Cherry Valley
Does Cherry Valley have a public library?
Yes. Cherry Valley Memorial Library, 61 Main Street, serves Cherry Valley’s 1,229 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 20 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Cherry Valley Memorial 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 Cherry Valley’s library?
It logged 1.7 visits and lent 3.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Cherry Valley’s civic life grade?
A− Cherry Valley is ahead of 75% 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 Cherry Valley.
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.