Frontier House · Photo: Kdm85 · CC BY-SA 3.0Lewiston’s library logs 4.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Lewiston Public Library serves 13,401 people in and around Lewiston. Last year it lent 47K print books and media and logged 57K visits.
What stands out about Lewiston Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Lewiston’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Lewiston is ahead of 34% of U.S. towns, #507 of 751 in New York. Library visits hold the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($59K–$98K) 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 →
59 community nonprofits are registered in Lewiston
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 (12 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.
5.1%
5.1% of Lewiston’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 Lewiston’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Lewiston Public Library serves 13,401 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 22 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Lewiston Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
47K 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.
About 4 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.
2 places to borrow in Lewiston
Lewiston Public Library, 305 South Eighth Street, Lewiston.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Lewiston Public Library branch.
New in Lewiston? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other Lewiston Public Library branches in Lewiston
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.78 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Lewiston cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $434K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $771K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $434K 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 6,081 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ransomville | Ransomville Free Library | 14.9 | 31 | — graded as part of its town |
| Niagara Falls | Niagara Falls Public Library | 1.9 | 60 | C+ |
| Lewiston | Lewiston Public Library | — | 41 | C |
| Porter | Youngstown Free Library fine-free | — | 34 | C− |
| Niagara | None of its own | — | — | — too few inputs |
| Cambria | None of its own | — | — | C |
| Wheatfield | 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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Lewiston Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
- Digital loans not reported. New York libraries often don’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
- System-wide. Lewiston Public Library serves 13,401 people in and around Lewiston, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Lewiston.
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 Lewiston
Does Lewiston have a public library?
Yes. Lewiston Public Library, 305 South Eighth Street, serves 13,401 people in and around Lewiston (the survey’s count) and is open about 41 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lewiston 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 Lewiston’s library?
It logged 4.3 visits and lent 3.5 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Lewiston’s civic life grade?
C Lewiston is ahead of 34% of U.S. towns on civic life, #507 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 Lewiston.
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.