Photo: Adam Moss · CC BY-SA 2.0Fonda’s library logs 1.2 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Frothingham Free Library serves 6,620 people in and around Fonda. Last year it lent 16K books, movies and e-books and logged 8,241 visits.
Fonda’s library, in brief
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
44% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 54%. What your card is worth ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 18% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 42% for its size. How it compares ↓
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; Frothingham Free Library serves 6,620 people in and around Fonda, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Fonda’s civic life grade
Fonda isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Frothingham Free Library serves 6,620 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 12 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Frothingham Free Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
16K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
3,462 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
About 3 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.
Find it
Frothingham Free Library, 28 West Main Street, Fonda.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Good at every Frothingham Free Library branch.
New in Fonda? 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 $2.53 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Fonda cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $114K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $289K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $114K 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 1,199 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fonda | Frothingham Free Library fine-free | — | 26 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Mohawk | Frothingham Free Library fine-free | — | 26 | A |
| Fultonville | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Glen | 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. Frothingham Free Library serves 6,620 people in and around Fonda, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Fonda.
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 Fonda
Does Fonda have a public library?
Yes. Frothingham Free Library, 28 West Main Street, serves 6,620 people in and around Fonda (the survey’s count) and is open about 26 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Frothingham Free Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Fonda’s library?
It logged 1.2 visits and lent 2.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Fonda’s civic life grade?
Fonda isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Fonda.
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.