Dayton's Corners School · Photo: Matthew D. Wilson (LtPowers) · CC BY-SA 3.0Penfield’s library lends 8.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Penfield Public Library serves Penfield’s 39,438 residents. Last year it lent 429K books, movies and e-books and logged 174K visits.
Penfield’s library, in brief
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Penfield Public Library charges late fines on some overdue items. Three of the five libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Kids borrow more here than almost anywhere
Children’s books and media are 51% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 88% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 20 items per child in Penfield last year. Kids & programs ↓
A place to get online
Penfield Public Library logs about 1,044 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 14 public computers. That’s 9.7 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
Most programs are for young children
65% of the 668 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 4.9 a week for ages 0–5. 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.
What’s behind Penfield’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Penfield is ahead of 56% of U.S. towns, #322 of 751 in New York. Library visits hold 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 →
153 community nonprofits are registered in Penfield
3.9 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 (29 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 4 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.1%
7.1% of Penfield’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 Penfield’s residents live; 2022.
About 8 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 Penfield last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Penfield Public Library serves 39,438 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 139 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
429K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 115K books and other items on the shelves went out about 3 times last year, on average.
78,313 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Penfield Public Library, 1985 Baird Road, Penfield.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Penfield? 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 $3.27 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Penfield cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $7.5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.3M 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 16,519 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Penfield ranks 2nd of 5 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brighton | Brighton Memorial Library fine-free | 14.9 | 58 | B+ |
| Penfield | Penfield Public Library | 10.9 | 60 | B |
| Webster | Webster Public Library fine-free | 9.8 | 55 | C+ |
| Irondequoit | Irondequoit Public Library | 8.9 | 55 | B− |
| Walworth | Walworth-Seely Public Library fine-free | 5.1 | 49 | C+ |
| Perinton | Fairport Public Library | — | 53 | 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.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Penfield
Does Penfield have a public library?
Yes. Penfield Public Library, 1985 Baird Road, serves Penfield’s 39,438 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 60 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Penfield 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 Penfield’s library?
It logged 4.4 visits and lent 10.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Penfield’s civic life grade?
B Penfield is ahead of 56% of U.S. towns on civic life, #322 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 Penfield.
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.