Snells Bush Church and Cemetery · Photo: Liz Spraker · CC BY-SA 4.0Manheim’s library runs 56 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Dolgeville-Manheim Public Library serves 3,197 people in and around Manheim. Last year it lent 7,294 books, movies and e-books and logged 6,128 visits.
What Manheim’s library is like
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Dolgeville-Manheim Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. Three of the five libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
New York pays a big share
25% of the budget comes from the state, and 70% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. 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; Dolgeville-Manheim Public Library serves 3,197 people in and around Manheim, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Manheim’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Manheim is ahead of 62% of U.S. towns, #274 of 751 in New York. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull 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 →
15 community nonprofits are registered in Manheim
4.9 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
10.3%
10.3% of Manheim’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 Manheim’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Dolgeville-Manheim Public Library serves 3,197 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 4 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Dolgeville-Manheim Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
7,294 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
1,686 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
178 programs a year
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
Dolgeville-Manheim Public Library, 24 North Main Street, Dolgeville.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Dolgeville-Manheim Public Library branch.
New in Manheim? 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 $2.35 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Manheim cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $58K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $137K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $58K 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 1,213 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Little Falls | Little Falls Public Library | 6.2 | 52 | A |
| Fairfield | Middleville Free Library fine-free | 4.0 | 12 | B |
| St. Johnsville | Margaret Reaney Memorial Library fine-free | 2.2 | 34 | C− |
| Salisbury | Kirby Free Library of Salisbury fine-free | 0.9 | 20 | C |
| Manheim | Dolgeville-Manheim Public Library | — | 33 | B |
| Dolgeville | Dolgeville-Manheim Public Library | — | 33 | A+ |
| Oppenheim | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Danube | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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.
- System-wide. Dolgeville-Manheim Public Library serves 3,197 people in and around Manheim, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Manheim.
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 Manheim
Does Manheim have a public library?
Yes. Dolgeville-Manheim Public Library, 24 North Main Street, serves 3,197 people in and around Manheim (the survey’s count) and is open about 33 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Dolgeville-Manheim 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 Manheim’s library?
It logged 1.9 visits and lent 2.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Manheim’s civic life grade?
B Manheim is ahead of 62% of U.S. towns on civic life, #274 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 Manheim.
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.