Gloversville Free Library · Photo: Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0Gloversville’s library runs 8.8 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Gloversville Public Library serves 18,436 people in and around Gloversville. Last year it lent 47K books, movies and e-books and logged 60K visits.
What Gloversville’s library is like
The branch is a National Register landmark
Gloversville Free Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976. Today’s library there has 14,050 square feet. The building ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
28% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 69%. What your card is worth ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Gloversville Public Library offered 162 programs last year, 8.8 per 1,000 residents against a typical 24. Kids & programs ↓
Programs lean toward adults
54% of the 162 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 53 were for children. 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; Gloversville Public Library serves 18,436 people in and around Gloversville, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Gloversville’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Gloversville is ahead of 46% of U.S. towns, #397 of 751 in New York. Gloversville’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
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 →
78 community nonprofits are registered in Gloversville
5.2 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 (12 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.
5.9%
5.9% of Gloversville’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 Gloversville’s residents live; 2022.
A National Register landmark since 1976
Gloversville Public Library, 58 East Fulton Street, Gloversville.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Gloversville Public Library branch.
New in Gloversville? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Gloversville Free Library
Gloversville Free Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 24, 1976. It is significant for its education and architecture at the local level. Its architecture is described as Beaux Arts.
The Gloversville Public Library, located at 58 East Fulton Street in Gloversville, Fulton County, New York, was constructed in 1904 with funds provided by the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. It is one of 3,000 such Carnegie libraries constructed between 1885 and 1919, and one of 107 in New York State. Carnegie contributed $50,000 toward the cost to build. His name is inscribed on the building's entrance.
More about the building →Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Gloversville Public Library serves 18,436 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 Gloversville Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
47K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
11,252 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 1 kids’ program 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.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Gloversville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $897K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $760K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $897K 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 6,377 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. Gloversville Public Library serves 18,436 people in and around Gloversville, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Gloversville.
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 Gloversville
Does Gloversville have a public library?
Yes. Gloversville Public Library, 58 East Fulton Street, serves 18,436 people in and around Gloversville (the survey’s count) and is open about 44 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Gloversville 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 Gloversville’s library?
It logged 3.2 visits and lent 2.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Gloversville’s civic life grade?
B− Gloversville is ahead of 46% of U.S. towns on civic life, #397 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 Gloversville.
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; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.