C. Burton Hotel · Photo: Daniel Case · CC BY-SA 3.0Neversink’s library lends 5 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Daniel Pierce Library serves 6,070 people in and around Neversink. Last year it lent 31K print books and media and logged 23K visits.
What Neversink’s library is like
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Daniel Pierce Library charges late fines on some overdue items. Three of the four libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
25% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 74%. What your card is worth ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 65% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 80% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Most programs are for young children
69% of the 225 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 2.5 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
A well-funded system
Daniel Pierce Library spends $95 per resident a year, about twice the typical $43 for a library its size. 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; Daniel Pierce Library serves 6,070 people in and around Neversink, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Neversink’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Neversink is ahead of 57% of U.S. towns, #309 of 751 in New York. Neversink is graded on two of the three inputs. Neversink’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 →
17 community nonprofits are registered in Neversink
5.0 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.9%
6.9% of Neversink’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 Neversink’s residents live; 2022.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Neversink cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $577K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $522K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $577K 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 2,319 cardholders ÷ 12.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Daniel Pierce Library serves 6,070 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 15 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Daniel Pierce Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
31K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 3 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.
Find it
Daniel Pierce Library, 328 Main Street, Grahamsville.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Daniel Pierce Library branch.
New in Neversink? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neversink | Daniel Pierce Library | — | 39 | B |
| Fallsburg | Fallsburg Library fine-free | — | 35 | D |
| Rockland | Livingston Manor Free Library | — | 41 | A |
| Wawarsing | Ellenville Public Library & Museum fine-free | — | 54 | C− |
| Liberty | Liberty Public Library fine-free | — | 26 | C |
| Denning | 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.
- Digital loans not reported. New York libraries often don’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
- System-wide. Daniel Pierce Library serves 6,070 people in and around Neversink, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Neversink.
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 Neversink
Does Neversink have a public library?
Yes. Daniel Pierce Library, 328 Main Street, serves 6,070 people in and around Neversink (the survey’s count) and is open about 39 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Daniel Pierce 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 Neversink’s library?
It logged 3.8 visits and lent 5.0 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Neversink’s civic life grade?
B Neversink is ahead of 57% of U.S. towns on civic life, #309 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 Neversink.
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.