George Brothers Building · Photo: Stephen Schweitzer · CC BY-SA 4.0Lyme’s library lends 5.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Lyme Free Library serves Lyme’s 2,299 residents. Last year it lent 13K print books and media and logged 9,197 visits.
Lyme’s library, in brief
Lyme out-borrows every town next door
At 5.6 loans per resident, Lyme leads the five towns here. The closest is Cape Vincent, at 3.4. Libraries next door ↓
A small-town library
Lyme Free Library serves 2,299 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 40 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 ↓
Most programs are for young children
72% of the 152 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 1.6 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
A place to get online
Lyme Free Library logs about 210 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 5 public computers. That’s 33 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Lyme Free Library holds 26,000 books and other items, but the average item went out less than once last year. 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Lyme’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Lyme is ahead of 64% of U.S. towns. Lyme’s count of community nonprofits holds 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 →
13 community nonprofits are registered in Lyme
6.2 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: environment & animals.
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.
6.6%
6.6% of Lyme’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 Lyme’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.
Lyme Free Library serves 2,299 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 6 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
13K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 26K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.5 time last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 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 Lyme last year.
Find it
Lyme Free Library, 12165 Main Street, Chaumont.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Lyme? 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 $2.31 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Lyme cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $193K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $446K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $193K 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 1,222 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Lyme borrows the most per resident of the 5 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lyme | Lyme Free Library fine-free | 5.6 | 40 | B |
| Cape Vincent | Cape Vincent Community Library fine-free | 3.4 | 38 | A |
| Hounsfield | Hay Memorial Library fine-free | 2.7 | 25 | B+ |
| Brownville | Dexter Free Library fine-free | 0.9 | 27 | C |
| Clayton | Depauville Free Library fine-free | 0.3 | 37 | 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.
- 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 Lyme
Does Lyme have a public library?
Yes. Lyme Free Library, 12165 Main Street, serves Lyme’s 2,299 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lyme 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 Lyme’s library?
It logged 4.0 visits and lent 5.6 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Lyme’s civic life grade?
B Lyme is ahead of 64% 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 Lyme.
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.