Photo: Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0Penn Yan’s library runs 42 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Penn Yan Public Library serves 15,194 people in and around Penn Yan. Last year it lent 84K books, movies and e-books and logged 59K visits.
What stands out about Penn Yan Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Penn Yan’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Penn Yan is ahead of 82% of U.S. towns, #119 of 751 in New York. Penn Yan is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Penn Yan’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 →
27 community nonprofits are registered in Penn Yan
5.8 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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
8.7%
8.7% of Penn Yan’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 Penn Yan’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Penn Yan Public Library serves 15,194 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 27 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Penn Yan Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
84K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
19,017 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 5 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
Penn Yan Public Library, 214 Main Street, Penn Yan.
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 Penn Yan Public Library branch.
New in Penn Yan? 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 $2.04 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Penn Yan cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $675K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $675K 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 5,496 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.
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. Penn Yan Public Library serves 15,194 people in and around Penn Yan, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Penn Yan.
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 Penn Yan
Does Penn Yan have a public library?
Yes. Penn Yan Public Library, 214 Main Street, serves 15,194 people in and around Penn Yan (the survey’s count) and is open about 60 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Penn Yan 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 Penn Yan’s library?
It logged 3.9 visits and lent 5.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Penn Yan’s civic life grade?
A− Penn Yan is ahead of 82% of U.S. towns on civic life, #119 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 Penn Yan.
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.