Photo: Daniel Case · CC BY-SA 3.0Highland’s library runs 139 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Highland Public Library serves 12,920 people in and around Highland. Last year it lent 80K books, movies and e-books and logged 36K visits.
What stands out about Highland Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Highland’s civic life grade
Highland isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
About 8 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 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Highland Public Library serves 12,920 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 36 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Highland Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
80K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
25,299 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Highland Public Library, 14 Elting Place, Highland.
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 Highland Public Library branch.
New in Highland? 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 $1.69 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Highland cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $782K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $782K 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 6,253 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poughkeepsie | Boardman Road Branch Library fine-free | 5.0 | 58 | C− |
| Hyde Park | Hyde Park Library District fine-free | 2.8 | 48 | C |
| Highland | Highland Public Library fine-free | — | 43 | — graded as part of its town |
| Lloyd | Highland Public Library fine-free | — | 43 | B |
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. Highland Public Library serves 12,920 people in and around Highland, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Highland.
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 Highland
Does Highland have a public library?
Yes. Highland Public Library, 14 Elting Place, serves 12,920 people in and around Highland (the survey’s count) and is open about 43 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Highland 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 Highland’s library?
It logged 2.8 visits and lent 6.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Highland’s civic life grade?
Highland isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Highland.
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.