Photo: Daniel Case · CC BY-SA 3.0Ossining’s library runs 56 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Ossining Public Library serves 36,973 people in and around Ossining. Last year it lent 216K books, movies and e-books and logged 186K visits.
What Ossining’s library is like
Four times the programs of a typical library its size
Ossining Public Library ran 2,062 programs last year, about 40 a week. That’s 56 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14. People show up: 35,000 attended. Kids & programs ↓
A well-funded system
Ossining Public Library spends $129 per resident a year, about three times the typical $40 for a library its size. Almost all of it (92%) comes from local taxes. 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; Ossining Public Library serves 36,973 people in and around Ossining, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Ossining’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Ossining is ahead of 36% of U.S. towns, #489 of 751 in New York. Ossining is graded on two of the three inputs. Ossining’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($78K–$129K) 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 →
119 community nonprofits are registered in Ossining
4.4 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 (19 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 6 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.7%
5.7% of Ossining’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 Ossining’s residents live; 2022.
About 13 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Ossining Public Library serves 36,973 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 72 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Ossining Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
216K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
84,038 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Ossining Public Library, 53 Croton Avenue, Ossining.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Ossining Public Library branch.
New in Ossining? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Ossining cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $4.8M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $4.8M 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 14,933 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Briarcliff Manor | Briarcliff Manor Public Library | 11.7 | 35 | B− |
| Ossining | Ossining Public Library fine-free | — | 58 | C+ |
| Croton-on-Hudson | Croton Free Library fine-free | — | 54 | A+ |
| Cortlandt | Hendrick Hudson Free Library fine-free | — | 63 | B+ |
| Clarkstown | New City Free Library fine-free | — | 65 | B− |
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. Ossining Public Library serves 36,973 people in and around Ossining, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Ossining.
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 Ossining
Does Ossining have a public library?
Yes. Ossining Public Library, 53 Croton Avenue, serves 36,973 people in and around Ossining (the survey’s count) and is open about 58 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Ossining 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 Ossining’s library?
It logged 5.0 visits and lent 5.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Ossining’s civic life grade?
C+ Ossining is ahead of 36% of U.S. towns on civic life, #489 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 Ossining.
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.