Stillwater Bridge · Photo: Antepenultimate · CC BY-SA 4.0Orwell’s library logs 1.1 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Cogswell Free Library serves Orwell’s 1,077 residents. Last year it lent 2,210 print books and media and logged 1,174 visits.
What Orwell’s library is like
Every town next door borrows more
Orwell’s library lends 2.1 items per resident. Each of the three neighboring towns with a library of its own lends more, led by Richland at 5.1. Libraries next door ↓
A small-town library
Cogswell Free Library serves 1,077 residents with about one full-time staff. 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 ↓
Open only about 21 hours a week
Cogswell Free Library keeps short hours: about 21 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Pulaski Public Library in Richland, next door, is open about 37 hours a week. The building ↓
Most programs are for young children
77% of the 65 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including 25 for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
A place to get online
Cogswell Free Library logs about 61 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 3 public computers. That’s 21 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
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 Orwell’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Orwell is ahead of 13% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Orwell’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Cogswell Free Library spends $26 per resident, against a typical $54 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($52K–$87K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
3 community nonprofits are registered in Orwell
3.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: health.
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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.4%
5.4% of Orwell’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 Orwell’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Cogswell Free Library serves 1,077 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 2 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
2,210 print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 5,052 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
65 programs a year
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 Orwell last year.
Find it
Cogswell Free Library, 1999 County Route 2, Orwell.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Orwell? 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 $3.67 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Orwell cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $28K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $103K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $28K 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 309 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Orwell ranks 4th of 4 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richland | Pulaski Public Library fine-free | 5.1 | 37 | B− |
| Sandy Creek | Annie Porter Ainsworth Memorial Library fine-free | 4.0 | 35 | C+ |
| Williamstown | Williamstown Library fine-free | 3.7 | 23 | B− |
| Orwell | Cogswell Free Library fine-free | 2.1 | 21 | D |
| Redfield | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Boylston | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Albion | 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.
- 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 Orwell
Does Orwell have a public library?
Yes. Cogswell Free Library, 1999 County Route 2, serves Orwell’s 1,077 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 21 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Cogswell Free 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 Orwell’s library?
It logged 1.1 visits and lent 2.1 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Orwell’s civic life grade?
D Orwell is ahead of 13% 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 Orwell.
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.