Photo: Doug Kerr from Upstate New York · CC BY-SA 2.0Jordan’s library logs 13 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Jordan Bramley Library serves Jordan’s 1,192 residents. Last year it lent 16K print books and media and logged 15K visits.
The short version on Jordan’s library
More library cards than residents
1,753 cards for 1,192 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
Jordan uses its library more than almost any town its size
Jordan Bramley Library logs 13 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people, and lends 13 print items per resident against a typical 3.9. On both counts it beats 92% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
A small-town library
Jordan Bramley Library serves 1,192 residents with about 2 full-time staff, open about 37 hours a week. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
Jordan invests in its library
Jordan Bramley Library spends $117 per resident a year, about twice the typical $54 for a library its size. What your card is worth ↓
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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Jordan’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Jordan is ahead of 24% of U.S. towns. Jordan is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($57K–$96K) 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 →
4 community nonprofits are registered in Jordan
2.5 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.
7.1%
7.1% of Jordan’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 Jordan’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 8 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Jordan Bramley Library serves 1,192 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Books and media off the shelf
16K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 23K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.7 time last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
55 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Jordan last year.
Find it
Jordan Bramley Library, 15 Mechanic Street, Jordan.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Jordan? 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 $1.94 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Jordan cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $140K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $271K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $140K 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 1,753 cardholders ÷ 12.
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.
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 Jordan
Does Jordan have a public library?
Yes. Jordan Bramley Library, 15 Mechanic Street, serves Jordan’s 1,192 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 37 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Jordan Bramley 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 Jordan’s library?
It logged 13.0 visits and lent 13.0 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Jordan’s civic life grade?
C− Jordan 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 Jordan.
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.