Photo: Adam Moss from Highland Park, NJ, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0Rotterdam’s library is a branch of Schenectady County Public Library, which lends more per resident than 52% of systems its size
Rotterdam’s library is the Rotterdam Branch, a branch of Schenectady County Public Library, which serves 158,061 people and lent 714K items last year.
What stands out about Rotterdam Branch
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Rotterdam’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Rotterdam is ahead of 14% of U.S. towns, #682 of 751 in New York. Rotterdam is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($65K–$108K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
63 community nonprofits are registered in Rotterdam
2.1 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 (15 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.
6.3%
6.3% of Rotterdam’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 Rotterdam’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Schenectady County Public Library serves 158,061 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 36 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Schenectady County Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
714K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
195,227 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 12 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
Rotterdam Branch, 1100 North Westcott Road, Schenectady.
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 Schenectady County Public Library branch.
New in Rotterdam? 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 $1.52 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Rotterdam cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $7.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $11M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $7.3M 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 65,520 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colonie | William K Sanford Town Library | 6.9 | 59 | C+ |
| Rotterdam | Rotterdam Branch fine-free | — | 40 | D |
| Glenville | Glenville Branch fine-free | — | 40 | B |
| Schenectady | Central Library fine-free | — | 60 | C− |
| Guilderland | Guilderland Public Library fine-free | — | 61 | B− |
| Florida | Fort Hunter Free Library fine-free | — | 27 | D |
| Princetown | None of its own | — | — | 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.
- System-wide. Rotterdam Branch is one branch of Schenectady County Public Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 158,061 people it serves.
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 Rotterdam
Does Rotterdam have a public library?
Yes: Rotterdam Branch, 1100 North Westcott Road, is a branch of Schenectady County Public Library, which serves 158,061 people. The branch is open about 40 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Schenectady County 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 Rotterdam’s library?
It logged 2.6 visits and lent 4.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Rotterdam’s civic life grade?
D Rotterdam is ahead of 14% of U.S. towns on civic life, #682 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 Rotterdam.
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.