Beaverkill Covered Bridge · Photo: Daniel Case · CC BY-SA 3.0Rockland’s library runs 89 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Livingston Manor Free Library serves 3,298 people in and around Rockland. Last year it lent 9,214 books, movies and e-books and logged 7,219 visits.
Rockland’s library, in brief
Well funded, but lightly used
Livingston Manor Free Library spends $85 per resident, more than 85% of similar-size libraries. Use doesn’t match: visits per resident are lower than at 63% of them. What your card is worth ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Livingston Manor Free Library charges late fines on some overdue items. Two of the three libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. What your card is worth ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
27% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 72%. 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; Livingston Manor Free Library serves 3,298 people in and around Rockland, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Rockland’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Rockland is ahead of 89% of U.S. towns, #76 of 751 in New York. Rockland is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Rockland’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 →
23 community nonprofits are registered in Rockland
7.1 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (5 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.
9.0%
9.0% of Rockland’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 Rockland’s residents live; 2022.
About 3 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 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Livingston Manor Free Library serves 3,298 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 4 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Livingston Manor Free Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
9,214 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
3,034 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
2 places to borrow in Rockland
Livingston Manor Free Library, 92 Main Street, Livingston Manor.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Livingston Manor Free Library branch.
New in Rockland? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other Livingston Manor Free Library branches in Rockland
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Rockland cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $279K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $210K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $279K 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 1,157 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rockland | Livingston Manor Free Library | — | 41 | A |
| Liberty | Liberty Public Library fine-free | — | 26 | C |
| Neversink | Daniel Pierce Library | — | 39 | B |
| Callicoon | Western Sullivan P L - Jeffersonville fine-free | — | 40 | A− |
| Colchester | None of its own | — | — | A− |
| Fremont | None of its own | — | — | — too few inputs |
| Hardenburgh | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Denning | 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. Livingston Manor Free Library serves 3,298 people in and around Rockland, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Rockland.
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 Rockland
Does Rockland have a public library?
Yes. Livingston Manor Free Library, 92 Main Street, serves 3,298 people in and around Rockland (the survey’s count) and is open about 41 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Livingston Manor Free 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 Rockland’s library?
It logged 2.2 visits and lent 2.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Rockland’s civic life grade?
A Rockland is ahead of 89% of U.S. towns on civic life, #76 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 Rockland.
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.