Photo: ILoveCortlandNewYork · CC BY-SA 4.0Cortland’s library logs 3.3 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Cortland Free Library serves 28,390 people in and around Cortland. Last year it lent 99K books, movies and e-books and logged 93K visits.
What stands out about Cortland Free Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Cortland’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Cortland is ahead of 96% of U.S. towns, #15 of 751 in New York. Cortland is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups 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 →
112 community nonprofits are registered in Cortland
6.4 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 (17 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 3 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
13.5%
13.5% of Cortland’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 Cortland’s residents live; 2022.
A National Register landmark since 2008
Cortland Free Library, 32 Church Street, Cortland.
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 Cortland Free Library branch.
New in Cortland? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Cortland Free Library
Cortland Free Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 30, 2008. It is significant for its architecture, town planning and education at the local level. Its architecture is described as Georgian Revival.
Cortland Free Library is a historic library building located at Cortland in Cortland County, New York. It consists of one colossal story, seven bays wide, that stands on a high basement. It is constructed of brick in the Georgian Revival style and built in 1928. The entrance is marked by a projecting portico with four columns. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.
More about the building →Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Cortland Free Library serves 28,390 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 34 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Cortland Free Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
99K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
14,472 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
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.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.56 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Cortland cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $618K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $618K 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 5,709 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cortland | Cortland Free Library fine-free | — | 56 | A+ |
| Munsons Corners | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Cortland West | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
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.
- System-wide. Cortland Free Library serves 28,390 people in and around Cortland, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Cortland.
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 Cortland
Does Cortland have a public library?
Yes. Cortland Free Library, 32 Church Street, serves 28,390 people in and around Cortland (the survey’s count) and is open about 56 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Cortland 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 Cortland’s library?
It logged 3.3 visits and lent 3.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Cortland’s civic life grade?
A+ Cortland is ahead of 96% of U.S. towns on civic life, #15 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 Cortland.
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.