Photo: Mr. Matté (if there is an issue with this image, contact me using this image's Commons talk page, my Commons user talk page, or my English Wikipedia user talk page; I'll know about it a lot faster) · CC BY-SA 4.0Sharon’s library lends 6.4 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Sharon Springs Free Library serves Sharon’s 1,697 residents. Last year it lent 13K books, movies and e-books and logged 5,867 visits.
The short version on Sharon’s library
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
41% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 57%. What your card is worth ↓
A small-town library
Sharon Springs Free Library serves 1,697 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 32 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 ↓
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 Sharon’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Sharon is ahead of 79% 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 →
7 community nonprofits are registered in Sharon
4.2 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
20.4%
20.4% of Sharon’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 Sharon’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Sharon Springs Free Library serves 1,697 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 8 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
13K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 11K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1 time last year, on average.
1,671 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 1 kids’ program 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 Sharon last year.
Find it
Sharon Springs Free Library, 129 Main Street, Sharon Springs.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Sharon? 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 $2.65 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Sharon cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $82K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $217K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $82K 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 708 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sharon | Sharon Springs Free Library fine-free | 7.4 | 32 | A− |
| Cherry Valley | Cherry Valley Memorial Library fine-free | 3.1 | 20 | A− |
| Canajoharie | Canajoharie Library and Art Gallery fine-free | — | 37 | A− |
| Seward | None of its own | — | — | C |
| Root | None of its own | — | — | C |
| Carlisle | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| Roseboom | 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 Sharon
Does Sharon have a public library?
Yes. Sharon Springs Free Library, 129 Main Street, serves Sharon’s 1,697 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 32 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Sharon Springs Free 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 Sharon’s library?
It logged 3.5 visits and lent 7.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Sharon’s civic life grade?
A− Sharon is ahead of 79% 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 Sharon.
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.