Photo: Barnum, Deloss -- Photographer · Public domainCortlandville’s library lends 8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Lamont Memorial Free Library serves 972 people in and around Cortlandville. Last year it lent 8,627 books, movies and e-books and logged 5,101 visits.
What Cortlandville’s library is like
A small-town library
Lamont Memorial Free Library serves 972 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
Lamont Memorial Free Library keeps short hours: about 22 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Groton Public Library in Groton, next door, is open about 42 hours a week. The building ↓
Programs lean toward adults
68% of the 130 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 31 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
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 Cortlandville’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Cortlandville is ahead of 45% of U.S. towns, #410 of 751 in New York. Cortlandville is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Cortlandville’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($55K–$92K) 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 →
4 community nonprofits are registered in Cortlandville
0.5 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
12.7%
12.7% of Cortlandville’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 Cortlandville’s residents live; 2022.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
8,627 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 14K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.5 time last year, on average.
823 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Lamont Memorial Free Library serves 972 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 8 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
130 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
Lamont Memorial Free Library, 5 Main Street, Mcgraw.
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 Cortlandville? 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 $1.57 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Cortlandville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $92K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $145K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $92K 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 502 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cortlandville | Lamont Memorial Free Library fine-free | 8.9 | 22 | C+ |
| Homer | Phillips Free Library fine-free | — | 37 | A |
| Groton | Groton Public Library fine-free | — | 42 | B |
| Virgil | None of its own | — | — | B− |
| Blodgett Mills | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Solon | None of its own | — | — | B− |
| Freetown | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Summerhill | 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.
- 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 Cortlandville
Does Cortlandville have a public library?
Yes. Lamont Memorial Free Library, 5 Main Street, serves 972 people in and around Cortlandville (the survey’s count) and is open about 22 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lamont Memorial 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 Cortlandville’s library?
It logged 5.2 visits and lent 8.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Cortlandville’s civic life grade?
C+ Cortlandville is ahead of 45% of U.S. towns on civic life, #410 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 Cortlandville.
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.