Photo: Doug Kerr from Upstate New York · CC BY-SA 2.0Schoharie’s library logs 1.5 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Schoharie Free Library Assn. serves 6,392 people in and around Schoharie. Last year it lent 23K books, movies and e-books and logged 9,853 visits.
What stands out about Schoharie Free Association Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Schoharie’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Schoharie is ahead of 84% of U.S. towns, #101 of 751 in New York. Schoharie is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Schoharie’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
17 community nonprofits are registered in Schoharie
5.5 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 (5 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.3%
9.3% of Schoharie’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 Schoharie’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Schoharie Free Library Assn. serves 6,392 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 12 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Schoharie Free Library Assn. system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
23K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
5,357 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 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
Schoharie Free Association Library, 103 Knower Avenue, Schoharie.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Schoharie Free Library Assn. branch.
New in Schoharie? 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 $2.18 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Schoharie cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $176K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $382K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $176K 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 1,757 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schoharie | Schoharie Free Association Library fine-free | — | 35 | A− |
| Cobleskill | The Community Library fine-free | — | 37 | A |
| Middleburgh | Middleburgh Library fine-free | — | 39 | A− |
| Duanesburg | Quaker Street Branch fine-free | — | 40 | B+ |
| Wright | None of its own | — | — | B |
| Esperance | None of its own | — | — | A |
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. Schoharie Free Library Assn. serves 6,392 people in and around Schoharie, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Schoharie.
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 Schoharie
Does Schoharie have a public library?
Yes. Schoharie Free Library Assn., 103 Knower Avenue, serves 6,392 people in and around Schoharie (the survey’s count) and is open about 35 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Schoharie Free Library Assn. 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 Schoharie’s library?
It logged 1.5 visits and lent 3.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Schoharie’s civic life grade?
A− Schoharie is ahead of 84% of U.S. towns on civic life, #101 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 Schoharie.
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.