Garrett Memorial Chapel · Photo: Kevin James Curtis (KJC402) · CC BY 3.0Jerusalem’s library runs 127 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60 for libraries its size
Modeste Bedient Memorial Library serves 1,509 people in and around Jerusalem. Last year it lent 11K books, movies and e-books and logged 6,454 visits.
What stands out about Modeste Bedient Memorial Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Jerusalem’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Jerusalem is ahead of 67% of U.S. towns, #232 of 751 in New York. Jerusalem is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups ranks highest.
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 →
16 community nonprofits are registered in Jerusalem
3.7 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.
9.4%
9.4% of Jerusalem’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 Jerusalem’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Modeste Bedient Memorial Library serves 1,509 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 7 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Modeste Bedient Memorial Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
11K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
3,672 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 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.
Find it
Modeste Bedient Memorial Library, 3699 Route 54a, Branchport.
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 Modeste Bedient Memorial Library branch.
New in Jerusalem? 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 $1.86 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Jerusalem cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $100K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $186K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $100K 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 675 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Potter | Mabel D. Blodgett Memorial Library fine-free | 5.1 | 20 | B− |
| Pulteney | Pulteney Free Library fine-free | 4.0 | 26 | A |
| Jerusalem | Modeste Bedient Memorial Library fine-free | — | 28 | B+ |
| Milo | Penn Yan Public Library fine-free | — | 60 | A− |
| Penn Yan | Penn Yan Public Library fine-free | — | 60 | A− |
| Wayne | None of its own | — | — | — graded with its twin city |
| Italy | None of its own | — | — | A− |
| Benton | None of its own | — | — | A− |
| Barrington | None of its own | — | — | B− |
| Keuka Park | 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. Modeste Bedient Memorial Library serves 1,509 people in and around Jerusalem, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Jerusalem.
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 Jerusalem
Does Jerusalem have a public library?
Yes. Modeste Bedient Memorial Library, 3699 Route 54a, serves 1,509 people in and around Jerusalem (the survey’s count) and is open about 28 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Modeste Bedient 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 Jerusalem’s library?
It logged 4.3 visits and lent 7.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Jerusalem’s civic life grade?
B+ Jerusalem is ahead of 67% of U.S. towns on civic life, #232 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 Jerusalem.
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.