Photo: scanned by Dave Parker · Public domainOneida’s library runs 33 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Oneida Public Library serves 14,235 people in and around Oneida. Last year it lent 59K books, movies and e-books and logged 45K visits.
The short version on Oneida’s library
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Oneida Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. All three libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Programs lean toward adults
57% of the 475 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 104 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
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; Oneida Public Library serves 14,235 people in and around Oneida, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Oneida’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Oneida is ahead of 60% of U.S. towns, #292 of 751 in New York. Oneida is graded on two of the three inputs. Oneida’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 →
55 community nonprofits are registered in Oneida
5.4 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 (12 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.8%
6.8% of Oneida’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 Oneida’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Oneida Public Library serves 14,235 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 20 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Oneida Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
59K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
14,461 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
Oneida Public Library, 459 Main Street, Oneida.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Oneida Public Library branch.
New in Oneida? 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 $1.79 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Oneida cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $561K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $561K 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 8,240 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oneida | Oneida Public Library | — | 58 | B |
| Vernon | Sherrill-Kenwood Free Library fine-free | — | 45 | D |
| Sherrill | Sherrill-Kenwood Free Library fine-free | — | 45 | B− |
| Lenox | Canastota Public Library fine-free | — | 55 | B− |
| Verona | None of its own | — | — | D |
| Oneida Castle | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Durhamville | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Lincoln | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| Stockbridge | None of its own | — | — | B |
| Wampsville | 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. Oneida Public Library serves 14,235 people in and around Oneida, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Oneida.
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 Oneida
Does Oneida have a public library?
Yes. Oneida Public Library, 459 Main Street, serves 14,235 people in and around Oneida (the survey’s count) and is open about 58 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Oneida Public 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 Oneida’s library?
It logged 3.2 visits and lent 4.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Oneida’s civic life grade?
B Oneida is ahead of 60% of U.S. towns on civic life, #292 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 Oneida.
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.