First Free Will Baptist Church of Pike · Photo: Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0Pike’s library runs 130 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60 for libraries its size
Pike Library serves 975 people in and around Pike. Last year it lent 5,841 books, movies and e-books and logged 2,053 visits.
The short version on Pike’s library
A small-town library
Pike Library serves 975 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 20 hours a week
Pike Library keeps short hours: about 20 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Wide Awake Club Library in Hume, next door, is open about 40 hours a week. The building ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Pike Library charges late fines on some overdue items. All three libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Programs lean toward adults
71% of the 127 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 33 were for children. 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Pike’s civic life grade
Pike isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Pike Library serves 975 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 6 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
5,841 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 11K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.5 time last year, on average.
732 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
127 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.
Find it
Pike Library, 65 West Main Street, Pike.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Pike? 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 $1.96 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Pike cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $52K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $102K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $52K 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 216 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Pike borrows the most per resident of the 3 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pike | Pike Library | 6.0 | 20 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Eagle | Eagle Free Library fine-free | 4.2 | 20 | B− |
| Gainesville | Town of Gainesville Public Library fine-free | 2.9 | 22 | D |
| Hume | Wide Awake Club Library fine-free | — | 40 | B− |
| Genesee Falls | 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.
- 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 Pike
Does Pike have a public library?
Yes. Pike Library, 65 West Main Street, serves 975 people in and around Pike (the survey’s count) and is open about 20 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Pike 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 Pike’s library?
It logged 2.1 visits and lent 6.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Pike’s civic life grade?
Pike isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Pike.
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.