Photo: AITFFan1 · CC BY-SA 4.0Mineola’s library lends 2.8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Mineola Memorial Library serves Mineola’s 20,800 residents. Last year it lent 90K books, movies and e-books and logged 62K visits.
What Mineola’s library is like
Every town next door borrows more
Mineola’s library lends 4.3 items per resident. Each of the three neighboring towns with a library of its own lends more, led by East Williston at 9.7. Libraries next door ↓
Mineola invests in its library
Mineola Memorial Library spends $92 per resident a year, about twice the typical $43 for a library its size. Almost all of it (96%) comes from local taxes. 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.
What’s behind Mineola’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Mineola is ahead of 32% of U.S. towns, #528 of 751 in New York. Mineola’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 ($103K–$172K) 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 →
82 community nonprofits are registered in Mineola
3.9 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (38 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 8 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.8%
5.8% of Mineola’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 Mineola’s residents live; 2022.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Mineola cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.9M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.9M 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 7,571 cardholders ÷ 12.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Mineola Memorial Library serves 20,800 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 31 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
90K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 63K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.9 time last year, on average.
30,795 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, 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 Mineola last year.
Find it
Mineola Memorial Library, 195 Marcellus Road, Mineola.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Mineola? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Libraries next door
Mineola ranks 4th of 4 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Williston | East Williston Public Library fine-free | 9.7 | 29 | B+ |
| Garden City | Garden City Public Library | 9.2 | 62 | B+ |
| Williston Park | Williston Park Public Library | 5.6 | 39 | C− |
| Mineola | Mineola Memorial Library | 4.3 | 55 | C |
| Westbury | Westbury Memorial Public Library | — | 71 | D |
| Carle Place | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Garden City Park | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Roslyn Heights | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Old Westbury | None of its own | — | — | B |
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.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Mineola
Does Mineola have a public library?
Yes. Mineola Memorial Library, 195 Marcellus Road, serves Mineola’s 20,800 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 55 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Mineola Memorial 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 Mineola’s library?
It logged 3.0 visits and lent 4.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Mineola’s civic life grade?
C Mineola is ahead of 32% of U.S. towns on civic life, #528 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 Mineola.
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.