Photo: Daniel Case · CC BY-SA 3.0Livingston’s library lends 9.4 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Livingston Free Library serves 343 people in and around Livingston. Last year it lent 3,231 print books and media and logged 1,144 visits.
The short version on Livingston’s library
More library cards than residents
609 cards for 343 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 ↓
Open only about 16 hours a week
The Livingston branch keeps short hours: about 16 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
37% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 50%. 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; Livingston Free Library serves 343 people in and around Livingston, and its numbers cover all of them; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Livingston’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Livingston is ahead of 92% of U.S. towns, #57 of 751 in New York. Livingston is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Livingston’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 →
26 community nonprofits are registered in Livingston
7.1 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (8 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.7%
9.7% of Livingston’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 Livingston’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Livingston Free Library serves 343 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 4 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Livingston Free Library system. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
3,231 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.
31 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
Find it
Livingston Free Library, 90 Old Post Road, Livingston.
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 Livingston Free Library branch.
New in Livingston? 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 $1.87 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Livingston cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $30K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $57K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $30K 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 609 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claverack | Claverack Free Library and Reading Room Asso fine-free | 12.4 | 32 | A |
| Germantown | Germantown Library fine-free | 9.9 | 35 | A− |
| Livingston | Livingston Free Library fine-free | — | 16 | A |
| Catskill | Catskill Public Library fine-free | — | 42 | C+ |
| Clermont | None of its own | — | — | A |
| Taghkanic | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
| Gallatin | None of its own | — | — | A |
| Greenport | None of its own | — | — | A |
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.
- Digital loans not reported. New York libraries often don’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
- System-wide. Livingston Free Library serves 343 people in and around Livingston, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Livingston.
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 Livingston
Does Livingston have a public library?
Yes. Livingston Free Library, 90 Old Post Road, serves 343 people in and around Livingston (the survey’s count) and is open about 16 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Livingston Free 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 Livingston’s library?
It logged 3.3 visits and lent 9.4 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Livingston’s civic life grade?
A Livingston is ahead of 92% of U.S. towns on civic life, #57 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 Livingston.
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.