Photo: Tim1337 · CC BY-SA 3.0Kent’s library runs 81 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Kent Public Library serves Kent’s 12,900 residents. Last year it lent 72K books, movies and e-books and logged 70K visits.
Kent’s library, in brief
Three times the programs of a typical library its size
Kent Public Library ran 1,048 programs last year, about 20 a week. That’s 81 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24. People show up: 18,000 attended. Kids & programs ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Kent Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. Six of the seven libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Programs lean toward adults
57% of the 1,048 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 359 were for children. 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 Kent’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Kent is ahead of 64% of U.S. towns, #254 of 751 in New York. Library visits hold 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 →
52 community nonprofits are registered in Kent
4.0 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 (6 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.3%
7.3% of Kent’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 Kent’s residents live; 2022.
About 7 kids’ programs 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 Kent last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Kent Public Library serves 12,900 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 30 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
72K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 55K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.9 time last year, on average.
21,051 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Kent Public Library, 17 Sybils Crossing, Kent Lakes.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Kent? 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 Kent cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $728K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $728K 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 6,444 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Kent ranks 3rd of 8 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Fishkill | East Fishkill Public Library District fine-free | 6.5 | 58 | C |
| Pawling | Pawling Free Library fine-free | 5.9 | 46 | A |
| Kent | Kent Public Library | 5.5 | 46 | B |
| Lake Carmel | Kent Public Library | 5.5 | 46 | — graded as part of its town |
| Philipstown | Alice Curtis Desmond and Hamilton Fish Library fine-free | 5.1 | 52 | A+ |
| Patterson | Patterson Library fine-free | 4.8 | 51 | C |
| Putnam Valley | Putnam Valley Free Library fine-free | 3.4 | 44 | B |
| Carmel | Reed Memorial Library fine-free | 1.8 | 42 | 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.
- 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 Kent
Does Kent have a public library?
Yes. Kent Public Library, 17 Sybils Crossing, serves Kent’s 12,900 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 46 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Kent Public 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 Kent’s library?
It logged 5.5 visits and lent 5.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Kent’s civic life grade?
B Kent is ahead of 64% of U.S. towns on civic life, #254 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 Kent.
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.