Covert Historic District · Photo: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD · CC BY-SA 4.0Covert’s library runs 331 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60 for libraries its size
Interlaken Public Library serves 595 people in and around Covert. Last year it lent 7,736 books, movies and e-books and logged 5,259 visits.
The short version on Covert’s library
Six times the programs of a typical library its size
Interlaken Public Library ran 197 programs last year, about 4 a week. That’s 331 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60. People show up: 3,090 attended. Kids & programs ↓
Covert uses its library more than almost any town its size
Interlaken Public Library logs 8.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people, and lends 11 print items per resident against a typical 3.9. On both counts it beats 87% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
A small-town library
Interlaken Public Library serves 595 residents with about 2 full-time staff, open about 27 hours a week. 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 ↓
Covert invests in its library
Interlaken Public Library spends $227 per resident a year, about four times the typical $54 for a library its size. What your card is worth ↓
A place to get online
Interlaken Public Library logs about 79 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 5 public computers. That’s 48 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
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 Covert’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Covert is ahead of 97% of U.S. towns. Covert 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 →
12 community nonprofits are registered in Covert
5.9 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
17.0%
17.0% of Covert’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 Covert’s residents live; 2022.
About 2 kids’ programs a week
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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Interlaken Public Library serves 595 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 6 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
7,736 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 8,588 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.7 time last year, on average.
1,355 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Interlaken Public Library, 8390 Main Street, Interlaken.
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 Covert? 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 $1.76 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Covert cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $135K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $237K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $135K 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 417 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Covert ranks 2nd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ulysses | Ulysses Philomathic Library fine-free | 14.0 | 43 | A+ |
| Covert | Interlaken Public Library fine-free | 13.0 | 27 | A+ |
| Lodi | Lodi Whittier Library fine-free | 6.9 | 28 | A− |
| Lansing | Lansing Community Library fine-free | — | 45 | A |
| Ovid | Edith B. Ford Memorial Library of Ovid, New York fine-free | — | 43 | A |
| Genoa | 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 Covert
Does Covert have a public library?
Yes. Interlaken Public Library, 8390 Main Street, serves 595 people in and around Covert (the survey’s count) and is open about 27 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Interlaken Public 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 Covert’s library?
It logged 8.8 visits and lent 13.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Covert’s civic life grade?
A+ Covert is ahead of 97% 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 Covert.
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.