Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Glens Falls’ library logs 4.5 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Crandall Public Library serves 60,201 people in and around Glens Falls. Last year it lent 439K books, movies and e-books and logged 269K visits.
What stands out about Crandall Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Glens Falls’ civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Glens Falls is ahead of 98% of U.S. towns, #7 of 751 in New York. Glens Falls is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs put Glens Falls near the top nationally; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups 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 →
124 community nonprofits are registered in Glens Falls
8.5 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. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
13.1%
13.1% of Glens Falls’ 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 Glens Falls’ residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 133 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Crandall Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Crandall Public Library serves 60,201 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
439K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
133,767 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 17 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
Crandall Public Library, 251 Glen Street, Glens Falls.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Crandall Public Library branch.
New in Glens Falls? 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 $1.43 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Glens Falls cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $4.8M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6.8M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $4.8M 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 27,186 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glens Falls | Crandall Public Library fine-free | — | 63 | A+ |
| Queensbury | None of its own | — | — | B |
| West Glens Falls | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Moreau | None of its own | — | — | B− |
| South Glens Falls | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| Glens Falls North | 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. Crandall Public Library serves 60,201 people in and around Glens Falls, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Glens Falls.
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 Glens Falls
Does Glens Falls have a public library?
Yes. Crandall Public Library, 251 Glen Street, serves 60,201 people in and around Glens Falls (the survey’s count) and is open about 63 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Crandall 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 Glens Falls’ library?
It logged 4.5 visits and lent 7.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Glens Falls’ civic life grade?
A+ Glens Falls is ahead of 98% of U.S. towns on civic life, #7 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 Glens Falls.
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.