Photo: Andre Carrotflower · CC BY-SA 4.0Dansville’s library logs 4.6 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Dansville Public Library serves 9,780 people in and around Dansville. Last year it lent 60K books, movies and e-books and logged 45K visits.
What stands out about Dansville Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Dansville’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Dansville is ahead of 28% of U.S. towns, #558 of 751 in New York. Dansville is graded on two of the three inputs. Dansville’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($43K–$72K) 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 →
19 community nonprofits are registered in Dansville
4.2 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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.0%
5.0% of Dansville’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 Dansville’s residents live; 2022.
A National Register landmark since 1977
Dansville Public Library, 200 Main Street, Dansville.
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 Dansville Public Library branch.
New in Dansville? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Dansville Library
Dansville Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Sep 14, 1977. It is significant for its architecture at the local level. Its architecture is described as Neoclassical.
Dansville Library is a historic library located at Dansville in Livingston County, New York. It is a large two story Neoclassical style frame structure. It is dramatically enhanced by a pedimented, giant portico covering its full width. The portico features four Doric columns, an elaborate frieze with triglyphs and rosettes, a modillion cornice, and a semi-elliptical fan decoration in the cornice.
More about the building →Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Dansville Public Library serves 9,780 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 22 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Dansville Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
60K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
13,596 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 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 $1.91 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Dansville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $494K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $944K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $494K 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 3,265 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Dansville Public Library serves 9,780 people in and around Dansville, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Dansville.
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 Dansville
Does Dansville have a public library?
Yes. Dansville Public Library, 200 Main Street, serves 9,780 people in and around Dansville (the survey’s count) and is open about 51 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Dansville 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 Dansville’s library?
It logged 4.6 visits and lent 6.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Dansville’s civic life grade?
C Dansville is ahead of 28% of U.S. towns on civic life, #558 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 Dansville.
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.