Union Hotel · Photo: Doug Kerr from Upstate New York · CC BY-SA 2.0Hounsfield’s library logs 4.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Hay Memorial Library serves Hounsfield’s 3,281 residents. Last year it lent 8,978 print books and media and logged 15K visits.
The short version on Hounsfield’s library
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
28% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 69%. What your card is worth ↓
Most programs are for young children
73% of the 95 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including 40 for ages 0–5. 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.
What’s behind Hounsfield’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Hounsfield is ahead of 71% of U.S. towns, #206 of 751 in New York. Hounsfield’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 →
19 community nonprofits are registered in Hounsfield
5.9 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: arts & culture.
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 (0 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.
7.3%
7.3% of Hounsfield’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 Hounsfield’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Hay Memorial Library serves 3,281 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 7 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
8,978 print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 8,772 books and other items on the shelves went out about 1 time last year, on average.
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, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Hounsfield last year.
2 places to borrow in Hounsfield
Hay Memorial Library, 105 South Broad Street, Sackets Harbor.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Hounsfield? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Hounsfield
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.87 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Hounsfield cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $76K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $143K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $76K 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 833 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Hounsfield ranks 4th of 6 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lyme | Lyme Free Library fine-free | 5.6 | 40 | B |
| Henderson | Henderson Free Library fine-free | 4.9 | 32 | B |
| Adams | Adams Free Library fine-free | 4.1 | 28 | C+ |
| Hounsfield | Hay Memorial Library fine-free | 2.7 | 25 | B+ |
| Brownville | Dexter Free Library fine-free | 0.9 | 27 | C |
| Dexter | Dexter Free Library fine-free | 0.9 | 27 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Brownville | Brownville-Glen Park Library Association fine-free | — | 25 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Watertown | None of its own | — | — | D− |
| Glen Park | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Hay Memorial Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
- Digital loans not reported. New York libraries often don’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
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 Hounsfield
Does Hounsfield have a public library?
Yes. Hay Memorial Library, 105 South Broad Street, serves Hounsfield’s 3,281 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 25 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Hay Memorial 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 Hounsfield’s library?
It logged 4.4 visits and lent 2.7 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Hounsfield’s civic life grade?
B+ Hounsfield is ahead of 71% of U.S. towns on civic life, #206 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 Hounsfield.
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.