US Post Office-Fulton · Photo: Jimmy Emerson (jimmywayne) · CC BY-SA 2.0Fulton’s library logs 1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Fulton Public Library serves 19,689 people in and around Fulton. Last year it lent 48K books, movies and e-books and logged 20K visits.
What Fulton’s library is like
The branch is a National Register landmark
Fulton Public library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1999. Today’s library there has 6,600 square feet. The building ↓
Fewer visits than most libraries its size
Fulton Public Library records 1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, below 90% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing holds up better, at 2.2 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
Most programs are for young children
67% of the 221 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 1.9 a week for ages 0–5. 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; Fulton Public Library serves 19,689 people in and around Fulton, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Fulton’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Fulton is ahead of 15% of U.S. towns, #671 of 751 in New York. Fulton is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Fulton’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Fulton Public Library spends $25 per resident, against a typical $43 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($39K–$65K) 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 →
33 community nonprofits are registered in Fulton
2.9 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 (8 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.3%
5.3% of Fulton’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 Fulton’s residents live; 2022.
A National Register landmark since 1999
Fulton Public Library, 160 South First Street, Fulton.
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 Fulton Public Library branch.
New in Fulton? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Fulton Public library
Fulton Public library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Jan 15, 1999. It is significant for its archeology and social history at the local level. Its architecture is described as Beaux Arts.
Fulton Public Library is a historic library building located at Fulton in Oswego County, New York. It is a masonry structure built in 1905–1906 in the Beaux-Arts style. The building is built on a steeply sloped lot and is two stories at street level and four stories behind. It was designed and built with funds provided by the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.
More about the building →Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Fulton Public Library serves 19,689 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 21 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Fulton Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
48K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
5,276 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
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.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.70 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Fulton cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $491K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $837K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $491K 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 8,409 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.
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. Fulton Public Library serves 19,689 people in and around Fulton, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Fulton.
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 Fulton
Does Fulton have a public library?
Yes. Fulton Public Library, 160 South First Street, serves 19,689 people in and around Fulton (the survey’s count) and is open about 46 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Fulton 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 Fulton’s library?
It logged 1.0 visits and lent 2.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Fulton’s civic life grade?
C− Fulton is ahead of 15% of U.S. towns on civic life, #671 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 Fulton.
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. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.