Photo: Doug Kerr from Upstate New York · CC BY-SA 2.0New Berlin’s library logs 6.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
New Berlin Library serves New Berlin’s 2,525 residents. Last year it lent 12K books, movies and e-books and logged 16K visits.
The short version on New Berlin’s library
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
New Berlin Library charges late fines on some overdue items. All three libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
28% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 71%. What your card is worth ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
New Berlin Library holds 28,000 books and other items, but the average item went out less than once last year. What people borrow ↓
Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf
Only 2% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 90% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
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 New Berlin’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, New Berlin is ahead of 79% of U.S. towns. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; library visits rank highest.
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 →
10 community nonprofits are registered in New Berlin
3.8 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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.5%
9.5% of New Berlin’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 New Berlin’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 6 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
New Berlin Library serves 2,525 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
12K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 28K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
235 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
79 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in New Berlin last year.
2 places to borrow in New Berlin
New Berlin Library, 15 South Main Street, New Berlin.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in New Berlin? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in New Berlin
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.84 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average New Berlin cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $128K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $237K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $128K 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 963 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
New Berlin ranks 3rd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Butternuts | Gilbertsville Free Library fine-free | 9.9 | 19 | A+ |
| Sherburne | Sherburne Public Library fine-free | 5.2 | 39 | B− |
| New Berlin | New Berlin Library | 4.9 | 43 | A− |
| Morris | Morris Library fine-free | — | 25 | A |
| Pittsfield | None of its own | — | — | A− |
| Norwich | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Columbus | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| North Norwich | None of its own | — | — | C |
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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. New Berlin Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 New Berlin
Does New Berlin have a public library?
Yes. New Berlin Library, 15 South Main Street, serves New Berlin’s 2,525 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 43 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is New Berlin 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 New Berlin’s library?
It logged 6.3 visits and lent 4.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is New Berlin’s civic life grade?
A− New Berlin is ahead of 79% 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 New Berlin.
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.