Union Station · Photo: Doug Kerr · CC BY-SA 2.0Ghent’s library runs 91 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Chatham Public Library serves 9,194 people in and around Ghent. Last year it lent 83K books, movies and e-books and logged 52K visits.
What stands out about Chatham Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Ghent’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Ghent is ahead of 95% of U.S. towns, #27 of 751 in New York. Ghent is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Ghent’s count of community nonprofits ranks highest.
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 →
48 community nonprofits are registered in Ghent
9.2 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: arts & culture.
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 (6 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.
10.0%
10.0% of Ghent’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 Ghent’s residents live; 2022.
About 5 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 all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Chatham Public Library serves 9,194 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 31 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Chatham Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
83K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
22,159 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Chatham Public Library, 11 Woodbridge Ave, Chatham.
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 Chatham Public Library branch.
New in Ghent? 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 $2.92 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Ghent cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $468K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $468K 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 5,142 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claverack | Claverack Free Library and Reading Room Asso fine-free | 12.4 | 32 | A |
| Ghent | Chatham Public Library fine-free | — | 45 | A+ |
| Kinderhook | Kinderhook Memorial Library fine-free | — | 47 | A− |
| Chatham | North Chatham Free Library fine-free | — | 36 | A |
| Austerlitz | None of its own | — | — | A+ |
| Stockport | None of its own | — | — | A |
| Hillsdale | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
| Stottville | 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. Chatham Public Library serves 9,194 people in and around Ghent, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Ghent.
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 Ghent
Does Ghent have a public library?
Yes. Chatham Public Library, 11 Woodbridge Ave, serves 9,194 people in and around Ghent (the survey’s count) and is open about 45 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Chatham 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 Ghent’s library?
It logged 5.7 visits and lent 9.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Ghent’s civic life grade?
A+ Ghent is ahead of 95% of U.S. towns on civic life, #27 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 Ghent.
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.