Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Malone’s library logs 1.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
The Wead Library serves 17,633 people in and around Malone. Last year it lent 47K books, movies and e-books and logged 24K visits.
What stands out about The Wead Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Malone’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Malone is ahead of 51% of U.S. towns, #360 of 751 in New York. Malone is graded on two of the three inputs. Malone’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 →
24 community nonprofits are registered in Malone
4.5 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.9%
6.9% of Malone’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 Malone’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
The Wead Library serves 17,633 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 21 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole The Wead Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
47K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
4,684 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. 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, 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.
Find it
The Wead Library, 64 Elm Street, Malone.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every The Wead Library branch.
New in Malone? 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 $1.34 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Malone cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $583K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $778K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $583K 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 4,572 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. The Wead Library serves 17,633 people in and around Malone, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Malone.
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 Malone
Does Malone have a public library?
Yes. The Wead Library, 64 Elm Street, serves 17,633 people in and around Malone (the survey’s count) and is open about 44 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is The Wead 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 Malone’s library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 2.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Malone’s civic life grade?
B− Malone is ahead of 51% of U.S. towns on civic life, #360 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 Malone.
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.