Photo: Jared Kofsky/PlaceNJ.com · CC BY-SA 3.0Highlands’ library lends 6.3 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Highland Falls Library serves 3,684 people in and around Highlands. Last year it lent 34K books, movies and e-books and logged 15K visits.
The short version on Highlands’s library
Highlands out-borrows every town next door
At 9.2 loans per resident, Highlands leads the five towns here. The closest is Philipstown, at 5.1. Libraries next door ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Highland Falls Library charges late fines on some overdue items. All five libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 2.9 e-items per resident, against a typical 1, higher than at 88% of similar-size libraries. It’s 32% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
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.
What’s behind Highlands’ civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Highlands is ahead of 61% of U.S. towns, #282 of 751 in New York. Highlands is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Highlands’ 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 →
38 community nonprofits are registered in Highlands
3.0 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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 3 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
10.4%
10.4% of Highlands’ 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 Highlands’ residents live; 2022.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
34K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 34K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.7 time last year, on average.
10,744 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 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Highland Falls Library serves 3,684 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 16 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
About 1 kids’ program a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, 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
Highland Falls Library, 298 Main Street, Highland Falls.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Highlands? 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 $1.77 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Highlands cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $299K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $529K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $299K budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
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 2,055 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Highlands borrows the most per resident of the 5 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highlands | Highland Falls Library | 9.2 | 42 | B |
| Philipstown | Alice Curtis Desmond and Hamilton Fish Library fine-free | 5.1 | 52 | A+ |
| Woodbury | Woodbury Public Library fine-free | 3.7 | 51 | C |
| Woodbury | Woodbury Public Library fine-free | 3.7 | 51 | — graded with its twin city |
| Stony Point | Rose Memorial Library Association fine-free | 1.6 | 47 | C− |
| Cornwall | Cornwall Public Library fine-free | — | 47 | A |
| West Point | 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.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Highlands
Does Highlands have a public library?
Yes. Highland Falls Library, 298 Main Street, serves 3,684 people in and around Highlands (the survey’s count) and is open about 42 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Highland Falls Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Highlands’ library?
It logged 4.1 visits and lent 9.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Highlands’ civic life grade?
B Highlands is ahead of 61% of U.S. towns on civic life, #282 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 Highlands.
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.