Enlarged Double Lock No. 33 Old Erie Canal · Photo: Jud McCranie · CC BY-SA 4.0Minden’s library runs 74 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Fort Plain Free Library serves 5,385 people in and around Minden. Last year it lent 20K books, movies and e-books and logged 13K visits.
What stands out about Fort Plain Free Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Minden’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Minden is ahead of 28% of U.S. towns, #556 of 751 in New York. Minden is graded on two of the three inputs. Minden’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($33K–$55K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
16 community nonprofits are registered in Minden
3.9 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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.5%
5.5% of Minden’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 Minden’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Fort Plain Free Library serves 5,385 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 10 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Fort Plain Free Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
20K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
1,899 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 1 kids’ program 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
Fort Plain Free Library, 19 Willett Street, Fort Plain.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Fort Plain Free Library branch.
New in Minden? 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 $1.80 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Minden cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $194K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $350K 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 1,845 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cherry Valley | Cherry Valley Memorial Library fine-free | 3.1 | 20 | A− |
| St. Johnsville | Margaret Reaney Memorial Library fine-free | 2.2 | 34 | C− |
| Minden | Fort Plain Free Library fine-free | — | 40 | C |
| Fort Plain | Fort Plain Free Library fine-free | — | 40 | C− |
| Canajoharie | Canajoharie Library and Art Gallery fine-free | — | 37 | A− |
| Palatine | None of its own | — | — | C |
| Nelliston | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Danube | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Stark | 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. Fort Plain Free Library serves 5,385 people in and around Minden, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Minden.
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 Minden
Does Minden have a public library?
Yes. Fort Plain Free Library, 19 Willett Street, serves 5,385 people in and around Minden (the survey’s count) and is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Fort Plain 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 Minden’s library?
It logged 2.4 visits and lent 3.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Minden’s civic life grade?
C Minden is ahead of 28% of U.S. towns on civic life, #556 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 Minden.
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.