Photo: Daniel Case · CC BY-SA 3.0Kinderhook’s library runs 81 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Kinderhook Memorial Library serves 6,404 people in and around Kinderhook. Last year it lent 65K books, movies and e-books and logged 37K visits.
The short version on Kinderhook’s library
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
33% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 61%. What your card is worth ↓
Programs lean toward adults
51% of the 518 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 132 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 2.6 e-items per resident, against a typical 1, higher than at 85% of similar-size libraries. It’s 25% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
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; Kinderhook Memorial Library serves 6,404 people in and around Kinderhook, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Kinderhook’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Kinderhook is ahead of 87% of U.S. towns. Kinderhook is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Kinderhook’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
18 community nonprofits are registered in Kinderhook
16.8 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.8%
7.8% of Kinderhook’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 Kinderhook’s residents live; 2022.
About 3 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Kinderhook Memorial Library serves 6,404 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 26 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Kinderhook Memorial Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
65K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
16,398 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Kinderhook Memorial Library, 18 Hudson Street, Kinderhook.
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 Kinderhook Memorial Library branch.
New in Kinderhook? 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 $2.14 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Kinderhook cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $479K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $479K 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 4,436 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Kinderhook Memorial Library serves 6,404 people in and around Kinderhook, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Kinderhook.
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 Kinderhook
Does Kinderhook have a public library?
Yes. Kinderhook Memorial Library, 18 Hudson Street, serves 6,404 people in and around Kinderhook (the survey’s count) and is open about 47 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Kinderhook 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 Kinderhook’s library?
It logged 5.7 visits and lent 10.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Kinderhook’s civic life grade?
A Kinderhook is ahead of 87% 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 Kinderhook.
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.