Photo: Doug Kerr · CC BY-SA 2.0Sayville’s library logs 6.6 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Sayville Library serves 18,498 people in and around Sayville. Last year it lent 163K books, movies and e-books and logged 122K visits.
What Sayville’s library is like
47% of borrowing happens on a screen
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 47% of loans, more per resident than at 94% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 53%, much of it kids’ books. What people borrow ↓
Programs draw a crowd
25,000 people came to the system’s 886 programs last year: 1.3 per resident, against a typical 0.4, more than at 94% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
A well-funded system
Sayville Library spends $184 per resident a year, about four times the typical $43 for a library its size. Almost all of it (96%) comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
Visits are the system’s strong suit
Sayville Library logs 6.6 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, more than 89% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing is above typical too, at 4.7 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
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; Sayville Library serves 18,498 people in and around Sayville, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Sayville’s civic life grade
Sayville 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 →
About 7 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Sayville Library serves 18,498 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 50 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Sayville Library system. The library’s own count.
47% of borrowing is digital
163K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
76,635 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Sayville Library, 88 Greene Avenue, Sayville.
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 Sayville Library branch.
New in Sayville? 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 Sayville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $3.4M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3.4M 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 10,191 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sayville | Sayville Library fine-free | — | 63 | — graded as part of its town |
| Islip | Connetquot Public Library fine-free | — | 71 | C |
| Brookhaven | Emma S. Clark Memorial Library fine-free | — | 73 | C+ |
| Bohemia | Connetquot Public Library fine-free | — | 71 | — graded as part of its town |
| Bayport | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| West Sayville | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Oakdale | 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.
- System-wide. Sayville Library serves 18,498 people in and around Sayville, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Sayville.
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 Sayville
Does Sayville have a public library?
Yes. Sayville Library, 88 Greene Avenue, serves 18,498 people in and around Sayville (the survey’s count) and is open about 63 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Sayville 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 Sayville’s library?
It logged 6.6 visits and lent 8.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Sayville’s civic life grade?
Sayville 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 Sayville.
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.