Photo: Doug Kerr from Upstate New York · CC BY-SA 2.0Roxbury’s library logs 7.5 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Roxbury Library Association serves Roxbury’s 2,247 residents. Last year it lent 3,008 books, movies and e-books and logged 17K visits.
What Roxbury’s library is like
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
77% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 21%. What your card is worth ↓
More of a place to be than a place to borrow
Visits per resident beat 82% of similar-size libraries, while borrowing beats only 13%. The building also logs about 1 Wi-Fi sessions a day. A year at the library ↓
A small-town library
Roxbury Library Association serves 2,247 residents with about 2 full-time staff, open about 25 hours a week. 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 ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 14% of the people Roxbury Library Association serves have a library card, against a typical 54% for its size. How it compares ↓
Programs lean toward adults
70% of the 115 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 29 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 Roxbury’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Roxbury is among the top 1% of U.S. towns. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups 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 →
18 community nonprofits are registered in Roxbury
8.2 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: arts & culture.
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.
42.7%
42.7% of Roxbury’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 Roxbury’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 2 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Roxbury Library Association serves 2,247 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
3,008 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 13K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.2 time last year, on average.
279 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
115 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.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Roxbury last year.
Find it
Roxbury Library Association, 53742 State Highway 30, Roxbury.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Roxbury? 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 Roxbury cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $73K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $61K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $73K 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 316 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Roxbury ranks 3rd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Middletown | Fairview Public Library | 3.6 | 31 | A |
| Bovina | Bovina Public Library fine-free | 2.9 | 20 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Roxbury | Roxbury Library Association fine-free | 1.3 | 25 | A+ |
| Stamford | Stamford Library | — | 33 | — too few inputs |
| Prattsville | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Halcott | 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 Roxbury
Does Roxbury have a public library?
Yes. Roxbury Library Association, 53742 State Highway 30, serves Roxbury’s 2,247 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 25 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Roxbury Library Association 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 Roxbury’s library?
It logged 7.5 visits and lent 1.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Roxbury’s civic life grade?
A+ Roxbury is among the top 1% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Roxbury.
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.