Photo: Bala Subs · CC BY-SA 2.0North Elba’s library logs 5.5 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Lake Placid Public Library serves 6,090 people in and around North Elba. Last year it lent 20K books, movies and e-books and logged 33K visits.
What stands out about Lake Placid Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind North Elba’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, North Elba is ahead of 81% of U.S. towns, #125 of 751 in New York. North Elba’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 →
93 community nonprofits are registered in North Elba
12.3 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 (13 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 5 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.8%
6.8% of North Elba’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 North Elba’s residents live; 2022.
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.
Lake Placid Public Library serves 6,090 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 8 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Lake Placid Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
20K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
3,162 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 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
Lake Placid Public Library, 2471 Main Street, Lake Placid.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Lake Placid Public Library branch.
New in North Elba? 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 $1.07 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average North Elba cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $307K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $328K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $307K 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 1,375 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keene | Keene Public Library fine-free | 2.3 | 35 | — too few inputs |
| Wilmington | Wilmington E.M. Cooper Memorial P L fine-free | 1.7 | 20 | D |
| North Elba | Lake Placid Public Library fine-free | — | 49 | A− |
| Harrietstown | Saranac Lake Free Library fine-free | — | 44 | A |
| Saranac Lake | Saranac Lake Free Library fine-free | — | 44 | A |
| St. Armand | None of its own | — | — | — too few inputs |
| Newcomb | 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. Lake Placid Public Library serves 6,090 people in and around North Elba, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just North Elba.
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 North Elba
Does North Elba have a public library?
Yes. Lake Placid Public Library, 2471 Main Street, serves 6,090 people in and around North Elba (the survey’s count) and is open about 49 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Lake Placid Public 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 North Elba’s library?
It logged 5.5 visits and lent 3.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is North Elba’s civic life grade?
A− North Elba is ahead of 81% of U.S. towns on civic life, #125 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 North Elba.
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.