Photo: Mwanner · CC BY-SA 3.0Elizabethtown’s library logs 1.1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Elizabethtown Library Association serves 2,496 people in and around Elizabethtown. Last year it lent 2,272 print books and media and logged 2,759 visits.
The short version on Elizabethtown’s library
Elizabethtown Library Association is used less than most libraries its size
Elizabethtown Library Association records 1.1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Borrowing is 0.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $15 per resident, against a typical $54. How it compares ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
45% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 51%. What your card is worth ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Elizabethtown Library Association offered 9 programs last year, 3.6 per 1,000 residents against a typical 60. Kids & programs ↓
Runs on less money than most
Elizabethtown Library Association spends $15 per resident, less than 95% of similar-size libraries (typical: $54). What your card is worth ↓
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; Elizabethtown Library Association serves 2,496 people in and around Elizabethtown, and its numbers cover all of them; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Elizabethtown’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Elizabethtown is ahead of 69% of U.S. towns. Elizabethtown is graded on two of the three inputs. Elizabethtown’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 →
19 community nonprofits are registered in Elizabethtown
16.8 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (0 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.9%
5.9% of Elizabethtown’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 Elizabethtown’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Elizabethtown Library Association serves 2,496 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 2 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Elizabethtown Library Association system. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
2,272 print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
9 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
Find it
Elizabethtown Library Association, 8256 River Street, Elizabethtown.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Elizabethtown Library Association branch.
New in Elizabethtown? 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 $1.02 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Elizabethtown cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $38K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $39K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $38K 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 830 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Westport | Westport Library Association fine-free | 2.8 | 21 | A− |
| Keene | Keene Public Library fine-free | 2.3 | 35 | — too few inputs |
| Moriah | Sherman Free Library fine-free | 0.4 | 27 | D− |
| Elizabethtown | Elizabethtown Library Association fine-free | — | 25 | B+ |
| Jay | Ausable Forks Free Library | — | 25 | C− |
| Lewis | None of its own | — | — | — too few inputs |
| North Hudson | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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.
- Digital loans not reported. New York libraries often don’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
- System-wide. Elizabethtown Library Association serves 2,496 people in and around Elizabethtown, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Elizabethtown.
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 Elizabethtown
Does Elizabethtown have a public library?
Yes. Elizabethtown Library Association, 8256 River Street, serves 2,496 people in and around Elizabethtown (the survey’s count) and is open about 25 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Elizabethtown Library Association 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 Elizabethtown’s library?
It logged 1.1 visits and lent 0.9 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Elizabethtown’s civic life grade?
B+ Elizabethtown is ahead of 69% 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 Elizabethtown.
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.