Dubois-Sarles Octagon · Photo: Daniel Case · CC BY-SA 3.0Marlborough’s library logs 9 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Marlboro Free Library serves 13,256 people in and around Marlborough. Last year it lent 65K books, movies and e-books and logged 120K visits.
What stands out about Marlboro Free Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Marlborough’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Marlborough is ahead of 48% of U.S. towns, #380 of 751 in New York. Marlborough is graded on two of the three inputs. Marlborough’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 →
37 community nonprofits are registered in Marlborough
4.2 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. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.0%
7.0% of Marlborough’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 Marlborough’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 21 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Marlboro Free Library system. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Marlboro Free Library serves 13,256 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
65K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
13,654 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 4 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.
2 places to borrow in Marlborough
Marlboro Free Library, 1251 Route 9w, Marlboro.
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 Marlboro Free Library branch.
New in Marlborough? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other Marlboro Free Library branches in Marlborough
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.07 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Marlborough cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1M 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 4,612 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poughkeepsie | Boardman Road Branch Library fine-free | 5.0 | 58 | C− |
| Milton | Sarah Hull Hallock Free Library fine-free | 4.7 | 43 | — graded as part of its town |
| Plattekill | Plattekill Public Library | 3.0 | 49 | B+ |
| Marlborough | Marlboro Free Library fine-free | — | 59 | B− |
| Lloyd | Highland Public Library fine-free | — | 43 | B |
| Marlboro | Marlboro Free Library fine-free | — | 59 | — graded as part of its town |
| Newburgh | Newburgh Free Library Town Branch fine-free | — | 44 | — graded with its twin city |
| Clintondale | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
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. Marlboro Free Library serves 13,256 people in and around Marlborough, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Marlborough.
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 Marlborough
Does Marlborough have a public library?
Yes. Marlboro Free Library, 1251 Route 9w, serves 13,256 people in and around Marlborough (the survey’s count) and is open about 59 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Marlboro 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 Marlborough’s library?
It logged 9.0 visits and lent 4.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Marlborough’s civic life grade?
B− Marlborough is ahead of 48% of U.S. towns on civic life, #380 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 Marlborough.
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.