Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel · CC BY-SA 4.0Smithtown’s library runs 25 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 9 for libraries its size
Smithtown Special Library District serves 112,919 people in and around Smithtown from 4 locations. Last year it lent 937K books, movies and e-books and logged 373K visits.
What Smithtown’s library is like
Most of the library’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 63% of loans, more per resident than at 96% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 37%. What people borrow ↓
Three times the programs of a typical library its size
Smithtown Special Library District ran 2,801 programs last year, about 54 a week. That’s 25 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 9. People show up: 59,000 attended. Kids & programs ↓
A well-funded system
Smithtown Special Library District spends $132 per resident a year, about four times the typical $36 for a library its size. Almost all of it (95%) comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
Open about 67 hours a week
The Smithtown branch is open about 67 hours a week, averaged over the year. The buildings ↓
Four branches in Smithtown
Smithtown has four branches of the Smithtown Special Library District, which serves 112,919 people in and around Smithtown. One card works at all of them. The buildings ↓
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; Smithtown Special Library District serves 112,919 people in and around Smithtown, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Smithtown’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Smithtown is ahead of 53% of U.S. towns, #346 of 751 in New York. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #83. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Smithtown’s count of community nonprofits pulls 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 →
408 community nonprofits are registered in Smithtown
3.5 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (55 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 12 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
8.6%
8.6% of Smithtown’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 Smithtown’s residents live; 2022.
About 24 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 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Smithtown Special Library District serves 112,919 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 70 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Smithtown Special Library District system. The library’s own count.
63% of borrowing is digital
937K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
592,872 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
4 places to borrow in Smithtown
The Smithtown Library, 1 North Country Road, Smithtown.
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 Smithtown Special Library District branch.
New in Smithtown? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other Smithtown Special Library District branches in Smithtown
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Smithtown cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $15M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $15M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $15M 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 50,998 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smithtown | The Smithtown Library fine-free | — | 67 | B− |
| Huntington | Huntington Public Library fine-free | — | 72 | B+ |
| Brookhaven | Emma S. Clark Memorial Library fine-free | — | 73 | C+ |
| Islip | Connetquot Public Library fine-free | — | 71 | C |
| Commack | Commack Public Library fine-free | — | 67 | — graded as part of its town |
| Brentwood | Brentwood Public Library fine-free | — | 68 | — under 1,000 residents |
| East Northport | East Northport Public Library fine-free | — | 70 | — graded as part of its town |
| Hauppauge | Hauppauge Public Library fine-free | — | 71 | — graded as part of its town |
| Stony Brook | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Head of the Harbor | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Lake Ronkonkoma | 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. Smithtown Special Library District serves 112,919 people in and around Smithtown, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Smithtown.
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 Smithtown
Does Smithtown have a public library?
Yes. Smithtown Special Library District, 1 North Country Road, serves 112,919 people in and around Smithtown (the survey’s count) and is open about 67 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Smithtown Special Library District 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 Smithtown’s library?
It logged 3.3 visits and lent 8.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Smithtown’s civic life grade?
B− Smithtown is ahead of 53% of U.S. towns on civic life, #346 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 Smithtown.
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.