Photo: Mwanner · CC BY-SA 3.0Jay’s library logs 1 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Ausable Forks Free Library serves 3,939 people in and around Jay. Last year it lent 13K print books and media and logged 4,015 visits.
The short version on Jay’s library
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
51% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 47%. What your card is worth ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Ausable Forks Free Library charges late fines on some overdue items. All four libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 9% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 42% for its size. How it compares ↓
Fewer visits than most libraries its size
Ausable Forks Free Library records 1 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, below 88% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing holds up better, at 3.2 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
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; Ausable Forks Free Library serves 3,939 people in and around Jay, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Jay’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Jay is ahead of 24% of U.S. towns. Jay is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Jay’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Ausable Forks Free Library spends $25 per resident, against a typical $43 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($54K–$90K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
8 community nonprofits are registered in Jay
3.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.7%
5.7% of Jay’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 Jay’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.
Ausable Forks Free Library serves 3,939 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 10 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Ausable Forks Free Library system. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
13K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
165 programs a year
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 Jay
Ausable Forks Free Library, 9 Church Lane, Ausable Forks.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Ausable Forks Free Library branch.
New in Jay? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other Ausable Forks Free Library branches in Jay
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.21 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Jay cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $97K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $215K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $97K 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 351 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keene | Keene Public Library fine-free | 2.3 | 35 | — too few inputs |
| Wilmington | Wilmington E.M. Cooper Memorial P L fine-free | 1.7 | 20 | D |
| Jay | Ausable Forks Free Library | — | 25 | C− |
| Chesterfield | Keeseville Free Library fine-free | — | 35 | C− |
| Elizabethtown | Elizabethtown Library Association fine-free | — | 25 | B+ |
| Black Brook | None of its own | — | — | D |
| Au Sable Forks | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Lewis | None of its own | — | — | — too few inputs |
| Au Sable | None of its own | — | — | C |
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.
- Digital loans not reported. New York libraries often don’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
- System-wide. Ausable Forks Free Library serves 3,939 people in and around Jay, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Jay.
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 Jay
Does Jay have a public library?
Yes. Ausable Forks Free Library, 9 Church Lane, serves 3,939 people in and around Jay (the survey’s count) and is open about 25 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Ausable Forks Free 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 Jay’s library?
It logged 1.0 visits and lent 3.2 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Jay’s civic life grade?
C− Jay is ahead of 24% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Jay.
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.