Salisbury Center Covered Bridge · Photo: Doug Kerr from Albany, New York, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0Salisbury’s library logs 0.6 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Kirby Free Library of Salisbury serves Salisbury’s 1,830 residents. Last year it lent 1,583 books, movies and e-books and logged 1,103 visits.
The short version on Salisbury’s library
Kirby Free Library of Salisbury is used less than most libraries its size
Kirby Free Library of Salisbury records 0.6 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Borrowing is 0.5 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $13 per resident, against a typical $54. How it compares ↓
A small-town library
Kirby Free Library of Salisbury serves 1,830 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
Kirby Free Library of Salisbury keeps short hours: about 20 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. The building ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
33% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 61%. What your card is worth ↓
Runs on less money than most
Kirby Free Library of Salisbury spends $13 per resident, less than 96% of similar-size libraries (typical: $54). 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Salisbury’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Salisbury is ahead of 27% of U.S. towns. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($61K–$102K) 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 →
5 community nonprofits are registered in Salisbury
2.6 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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
10.2%
10.2% of Salisbury’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 Salisbury’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Kirby Free Library of Salisbury serves 1,830 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 2 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
40% of borrowing is digital
1,583 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 7,256 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.1 time last year, on average.
637 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
82 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 Salisbury last year.
Find it
Kirby Free Library of Salisbury, 105 State Route 29a, Salisbury Center.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Salisbury? 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 $1.36 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Salisbury cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $24K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $32K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $24K 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 497 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairfield | Middleville Free Library fine-free | 4.0 | 12 | B |
| Salisbury | Kirby Free Library of Salisbury fine-free | 0.9 | 20 | C |
| Manheim | Dolgeville-Manheim Public Library | — | 33 | B |
| Stratford | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Oppenheim | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Norway | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Morehouse | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Ohio | 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 Salisbury
Does Salisbury have a public library?
Yes. Kirby Free Library of Salisbury, 105 State Route 29a, serves Salisbury’s 1,830 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 20 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Kirby Free Library of Salisbury 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 Salisbury’s library?
It logged 0.6 visits and lent 0.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Salisbury’s civic life grade?
C Salisbury is ahead of 27% 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 Salisbury.
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.