First Baptist Church of Watkins Glen · Photo: Doug Kerr from now in Binghamton, NY · CC BY-SA 2.0Dix’s library runs 96 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Watkins Glen Cen Sch Dis Free Pub Lib serves 7,989 people in and around Dix. Last year it lent 40K books, movies and e-books and logged 28K visits.
The short version on Dix’s library
Programs are almost all for children
80% of the 763 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 7.2 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
27% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 72%. What your card is worth ↓
Three times the programs of a typical library its size
Watkins Glen Cen Sch Dis Free Pub Lib ran 763 programs last year, about 15 a week. That’s 96 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34. 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; Watkins Glen Cen Sch Dis Free Pub Lib serves 7,989 people in and around Dix, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Dix’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Dix is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns, #216 of 751 in New York. Dix is graded on two of the three inputs. Dix’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls 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 →
23 community nonprofits are registered in Dix
6.2 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. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.2%
7.2% of Dix’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 Dix’s residents live; 2022.
About 12 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Watkins Glen Cen Sch Dis Free Pub Lib serves 7,989 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 18 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Watkins Glen Cen Sch Dis Free Pub Lib system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
40K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
8,116 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Watkins Glen Cen Sch Dis Free Pub Lib, 610 South Decatur Street, Watkins Glen.
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 Watkins Glen Cen Sch Dis Free Pub Lib branch.
New in Dix? 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 $3.06 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Dix cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $221K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $675K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $221K 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 3,097 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montour | Montour Falls Memorial Library fine-free | 5.9 | 35 | B+ |
| Dix | Watkins Glen Cen Sch Dis Free Pub Lib fine-free | — | 43 | B+ |
| Watkins Glen | Watkins Glen Cen Sch Dis Free Pub Lib fine-free | — | 43 | A |
| Reading | None of its own | — | — | A− |
| Hector | None of its own | — | — | A+ |
| Orange | None of its own | — | — | C |
| Catlin | None of its own | — | — | D |
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. Watkins Glen Cen Sch Dis Free Pub Lib serves 7,989 people in and around Dix, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Dix.
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 Dix
Does Dix have a public library?
Yes. Watkins Glen Cen Sch Dis Free Pub Lib, 610 South Decatur Street, serves 7,989 people in and around Dix (the survey’s count) and is open about 43 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Watkins Glen Cen Sch Dis Free Pub Lib 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 Dix’s library?
It logged 3.5 visits and lent 5.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Dix’s civic life grade?
B+ Dix is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns on civic life, #216 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 Dix.
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.