Photo: Tyler A. McNeil · CC BY-SA 4.0Guilderland’s library lends 9.3 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Guilderland Public Library serves 37,989 people in and around Guilderland. Last year it lent 484K books, movies and e-books and logged 170K visits.
What Guilderland’s library is like
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3.5 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.2, higher than at 91% of similar-size libraries. It’s 27% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
A system of heavy borrowers
Guilderland Public Library lends 9.3 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, more than 88% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
A well-funded system
Guilderland Public Library spends $119 per resident a year, about three times the typical $40 for a library its size. Almost all of it (95%) comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
Programs lean toward adults
63% of the 794 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 195 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; Guilderland Public Library serves 37,989 people in and around Guilderland, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Guilderland’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Guilderland is ahead of 50% of U.S. towns, #369 of 751 in New York. Library visits hold the grade up; Guilderland’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
106 community nonprofits are registered in Guilderland
2.8 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 (24 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.9%
7.9% of Guilderland’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 Guilderland’s residents live; 2022.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
484K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
131,229 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
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.
Guilderland Public Library serves 37,989 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 152 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Guilderland Public Library system. The library’s own count.
About 4 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.
2 places to borrow in Guilderland
Guilderland Public Library, 2228 Western Avenue, Guilderland.
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 Guilderland Public Library branch.
New in Guilderland? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other Guilderland Public Library branches in Guilderland
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.65 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Guilderland cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $4.5M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $7.5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $4.5M 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 19,523 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colonie | William K Sanford Town Library | 6.9 | 59 | C+ |
| Guilderland | Guilderland Public Library fine-free | — | 61 | B− |
| Albany | Albany Public Library fine-free | — | 48 | A− |
| New Scotland | Voorheesville Public Library fine-free | — | 57 | A |
| Rotterdam | Rotterdam Branch fine-free | — | 40 | D |
| Bethlehem | Bethlehem Public Library fine-free | — | 68 | A |
| Knox | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
| Westmere | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Princetown | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
| Colonie | None of its own | — | — | B |
| Roessleville | 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. Guilderland Public Library serves 37,989 people in and around Guilderland, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Guilderland.
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 Guilderland
Does Guilderland have a public library?
Yes. Guilderland Public Library, 2228 Western Avenue, serves 37,989 people in and around Guilderland (the survey’s count) and is open about 61 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Guilderland 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 Guilderland’s library?
It logged 4.5 visits and lent 12.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Guilderland’s civic life grade?
B− Guilderland is ahead of 50% of U.S. towns on civic life, #369 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 Guilderland.
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.