Montour Falls Union Grammar School · Photo: Dmadeo · CC BY-SA 3.0Montour’s library runs 143 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60 for libraries its size
Montour Falls Memorial Library serves 1,635 people in and around Montour. Last year it lent 9,636 books, movies and e-books and logged 11K visits.
What stands out about Montour’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Montour’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Montour is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns. Montour is graded on two of the three inputs. Montour’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 →
16 community nonprofits are registered in Montour
6.2 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.
7.2%
7.2% of Montour’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 Montour’s residents live; 2022.
About 3 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Montour Falls Memorial Library serves 1,635 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 5 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
9,636 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 8,821 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.8 time last year, on average.
2,250 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Montour Falls Memorial Library, 406 W Main Street, Montour Falls.
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 Montour? 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 $1.21 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Montour cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $161K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $195K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $161K 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 1,143 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montour | Montour Falls Memorial Library fine-free | 5.9 | 35 | B+ |
| Catharine | Dutton S Peterson Memorial Library fine-free | — | 46 | A− |
| Dix | Watkins Glen Cen Sch Dis Free Pub Lib fine-free | — | 43 | B+ |
| Watkins Glen | Watkins Glen Cen Sch Dis Free Pub Lib fine-free | — | 43 | A |
| Veteran | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Hector | None of its own | — | — | 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.
- 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 Montour
Does Montour have a public library?
Yes. Montour Falls Memorial Library, 406 W Main Street, serves 1,635 people in and around Montour (the survey’s count) and is open about 35 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Montour Falls Memorial 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 Montour’s library?
It logged 6.8 visits and lent 5.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Montour’s civic life grade?
B+ Montour is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Montour.
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.