Chapin Memorial Church · Photo: Doug Kerr from Albany, New York, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0Otsego’s library logs 6.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Village Library of Cooperstown serves 5,523 people in and around Otsego. Last year it lent 40K books, movies and e-books and logged 36K visits.
What stands out about Village Library of Cooperstown
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Otsego’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Otsego is ahead of 94% of U.S. towns, #36 of 751 in New York. Otsego is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Otsego’s count of community nonprofits ranks 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 →
38 community nonprofits are registered in Otsego
10.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: arts & culture.
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 (4 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.
9.5%
9.5% of Otsego’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 Otsego’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 15 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Village Library of Cooperstown system. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Village Library of Cooperstown serves 5,523 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
40K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
11,008 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
Village Library of Cooperstown, 22 Main Street, Cooperstown.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Village Library of Cooperstown branch.
New in Otsego? 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 $3.03 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Otsego cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $217K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $657K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $217K 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 3,103 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richfield | Richfield Springs Public Library fine-free | 10.8 | 33 | B− |
| Hartwick | Kinney Memorial Library fine-free | 9.5 | 27 | A |
| Springfield | Springfield Library fine-free | 2.8 | 20 | A+ |
| Otsego | Village Library of Cooperstown fine-free | — | 50 | A |
| Middlefield | None of its own | — | — | A+ |
| Exeter | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Schuyler Lake | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Burlington | None of its own | — | — | B− |
| Hartwick Seminary | 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. Village Library of Cooperstown serves 5,523 people in and around Otsego, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Otsego.
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 Otsego
Does Otsego have a public library?
Yes. Village Library of Cooperstown, 22 Main Street, serves 5,523 people in and around Otsego (the survey’s count) and is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Village Library of Cooperstown 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 Otsego’s library?
It logged 6.4 visits and lent 7.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Otsego’s civic life grade?
A Otsego is ahead of 94% of U.S. towns on civic life, #36 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 Otsego.
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.