Photo: Nfgusedautoparts · CC BY-SA 4.0Sand Lake’s library logs 1.5 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Sand Lake Town Library serves Sand Lake’s 8,348 residents. Last year it lent 53K books, movies and e-books and logged 13K visits.
What Sand Lake’s library is like
43% of borrowing happens on a screen
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 43% of loans, more per resident than at 87% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 57%, much of it kids’ books. What people borrow ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
Sand Lake Town Library charges late fines on some overdue items. All six libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. 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.
What’s behind Sand Lake’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Sand Lake is ahead of 47% of U.S. towns, #392 of 751 in New York. Sand Lake’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
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 →
39 community nonprofits are registered in Sand Lake
4.7 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
8.7%
8.7% of Sand Lake’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 Sand Lake’s residents live; 2022.
43% of borrowing is digital
53K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 29K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1 time last year, on average.
22,964 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Sand Lake Town Library serves 8,348 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 24 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
About 3 kids’ programs a week
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 Sand Lake last year.
Find it
Sand Lake Town Library, 8428 Miller Hill Road, Averill Park.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Sand Lake? 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 $4.46 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Sand Lake cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $185K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $824K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $185K 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 2,015 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Sand Lake ranks 4th of 7 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Greenbush | East Greenbush Community Library fine-free | 22.4 | 63 | B+ |
| Schodack | Castleton Public Library fine-free | 21.9 | 50 | B+ |
| North Greenbush | North Greenbush Public Library fine-free | 7.0 | 49 | C− |
| Sand Lake | Sand Lake Town Library | 6.4 | 43 | B− |
| Poestenkill | Poestenkill Library fine-free | 5.7 | 29 | C+ |
| Nassau | Nassau Free Library fine-free | 5.2 | 40 | C |
| Berlin | Berlin Free Town Library fine-free | 4.7 | 22 | C+ |
| West Sand Lake | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
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 Sand Lake
Does Sand Lake have a public library?
Yes. Sand Lake Town Library, 8428 Miller Hill Road, serves Sand Lake’s 8,348 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 43 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Sand Lake Town 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 Sand Lake’s library?
It logged 1.5 visits and lent 6.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Sand Lake’s civic life grade?
B− Sand Lake is ahead of 47% of U.S. towns on civic life, #392 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 Sand Lake.
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.