Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel · CC BY-SA 4.0Roscoe’s library logs 1.2 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Roscoe Free Library serves 1,772 people in and around Roscoe. Last year it lent 5,149 books, movies and e-books and logged 2,188 visits.
What’s behind Roscoe’s civic life grade
Roscoe 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 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Roscoe Free Library serves 1,772 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 3 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Roscoe Free Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
5,149 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
1,738 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
41 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
Find it
Roscoe Free Library, 85 Highland Ave, Roscoe.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Roscoe Free Library branch.
New in Roscoe? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Roscoe cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $97K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $87K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $97K 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 508 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Roscoe Free Library serves 1,772 people in and around Roscoe, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Roscoe.
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 Roscoe
Does Roscoe have a public library?
Yes. Roscoe Free Library, 85 Highland Ave, serves 1,772 people in and around Roscoe (the survey’s count) and is open about 34 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Roscoe 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 Roscoe’s library?
It logged 1.2 visits and lent 2.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Roscoe’s civic life grade?
Roscoe 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 Roscoe.
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.