Photo: Dmadeo · CC BY-SA 3.0Marion’s library logs 6.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Marion Public Library serves Marion’s 4,566 residents. Last year it lent 24K books, movies and e-books and logged 29K visits.
What Marion’s library is like
Most programs are for young children
71% of the 138 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 1.5 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 59% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 69% of similar-size libraries. 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.
What’s behind Marion’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Marion is ahead of 67% of U.S. towns, #240 of 751 in New York. Library visits hold the grade up; Marion’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
10 community nonprofits are registered in Marion
2.3 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.
10.2%
10.2% of Marion’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 Marion’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 14 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Marion Public Library serves 4,566 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
24K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 14K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.4 time last year, on average.
4,805 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, 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 Marion last year.
Find it
Marion Public Library, 4036 Maple Avenue, Marion.
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 Marion? 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 $1.91 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Marion cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $194K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $371K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $194K 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 1,537 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Marion ranks 4th of 5 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Williamson | Williamson Public Library | 9.2 | 54 | B |
| Palmyra | Palmyra Community Library fine-free | 8.1 | 50 | B+ |
| Macedon | Macedon Public Library fine-free | 6.7 | 48 | B |
| Marion | Marion Public Library fine-free | 5.3 | 34 | B+ |
| Walworth | Walworth-Seely Public Library fine-free | 5.1 | 49 | C+ |
| Sodus | Sodus Community Library fine-free | — | 59 | 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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Marion Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Marion
Does Marion have a public library?
Yes. Marion Public Library, 4036 Maple Avenue, serves Marion’s 4,566 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 34 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Marion Public 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 Marion’s library?
It logged 6.3 visits and lent 5.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Marion’s civic life grade?
B+ Marion is ahead of 67% of U.S. towns on civic life, #240 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 Marion.
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.