North Harmony’s library logs 8.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Ashville Free Library serves North Harmony’s 2,192 residents. Last year it lent 19K print books and media and logged 19K visits.
The short version on North Harmony’s library
Busy on a lean budget
Ashville Free Library spends $20 per resident, less than 91% of similar-size libraries (typical: $54). It’s still busier than 85% of them. What your card is worth ↓
North Harmony out-borrows every town next door
At 8.5 loans per resident, North Harmony leads the four towns here. The closest is Chautauqua, at 4.5. Libraries next door ↓
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 62% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 90% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 29 items per child in North Harmony last year. Kids & programs ↓
A small-town library
Ashville Free Library serves 2,192 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 47 hours a week. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Ashville Free Library charges late fines on some overdue items. All three libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind North Harmony’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, North Harmony is ahead of 84% 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 →
8 community nonprofits are registered in North Harmony
4.5 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.
8.8%
8.8% of North Harmony’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 Harmony’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.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in North Harmony last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Ashville Free Library serves 2,192 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 8 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
19K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 24K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.8 time last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Ashville Free Library, 2200 North Maple Street, Ashville.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in North Harmony? 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 $7.21 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average North Harmony cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $43K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $309K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $43K 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 1,421 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
North Harmony borrows the most per resident of the 4 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Harmony | Ashville Free Library | 8.5 | 47 | A− |
| Chautauqua | Mayville Library fine-free | 4.5 | 38 | A− |
| Sherman | Minerva Free Library fine-free | 4.2 | 25 | C+ |
| Busti | Lakewood Memorial Library fine-free | 3.5 | 44 | B+ |
| Harmony | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| Panama | 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.
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 Harmony
Does North Harmony have a public library?
Yes. Ashville Free Library, 2200 North Maple Street, serves North Harmony’s 2,192 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 47 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Ashville Free 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 North Harmony’s library?
It logged 8.8 visits and lent 8.5 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is North Harmony’s civic life grade?
A− North Harmony is ahead of 84% 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 North Harmony.
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.