Photo: Rolf Müller (User:Rolfmueller) · CC BY-SA 3.0Fishkill’s library runs 62 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Blodgett Memorial Library District of Fishkill serves 12,972 people in and around Fishkill. Last year it lent 66K books, movies and e-books and logged 45K visits.
What stands out about Blodgett Memorial Library District of Fishkill
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Fishkill’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Fishkill is ahead of 22% of U.S. towns. Fishkill is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($73K–$121K) 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 →
6 community nonprofits are registered in Fishkill
2.7 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.
6.5%
6.5% of Fishkill’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 Fishkill’s residents live; 2022.
About 7 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 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Blodgett Memorial Library District of Fishkill serves 12,972 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 32 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Blodgett Memorial Library District of Fishkill system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
66K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
17,180 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Blodgett Memorial Library District of Fishkill, 37 Broad Street, Fishkill.
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 Blodgett Memorial Library District of Fishkill branch.
New in Fishkill? 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 $1.35 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Fishkill cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $887K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $887K 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 4,930 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fishkill | Blodgett Memorial Library District of Fishkill fine-free | — | 40 | C− |
| Merritt Park | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
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. Blodgett Memorial Library District of Fishkill serves 12,972 people in and around Fishkill, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Fishkill.
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 Fishkill
Does Fishkill have a public library?
Yes. Blodgett Memorial Library District of Fishkill, 37 Broad Street, serves 12,972 people in and around Fishkill (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Blodgett Memorial Library District of Fishkill 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 Fishkill’s library?
It logged 3.5 visits and lent 5.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Fishkill’s civic life grade?
C− Fishkill is ahead of 22% 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 Fishkill.
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.