Upperville Meeting House · Photo: Immunonuclear · Public domainSmyrna’s library lends 0.7 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Smyrna Public Library serves Smyrna’s 1,237 residents. Last year it lent 841 print books and media and logged 2,063 visits.
Smyrna’s library, in brief
Smyrna Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Smyrna Public Library records 1.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people. Borrowing is 0.7 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $24 per resident, against a typical $54. How it compares ↓
A small-town library
Smyrna Public Library serves 1,237 residents with about one full-time staff. 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 ↓
Open only about 20 hours a week
Smyrna Public Library keeps short hours: about 20 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Sherburne Public Library in Sherburne, next door, is open about 39 hours a week. The building ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 7% of the people Smyrna Public Library serves have a library card, against a typical 54% for its size. 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Smyrna’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Smyrna is ahead of 31% of U.S. towns. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; library visits pull it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($45K–$74K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
5 community nonprofits are registered in Smyrna
3.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: environment & animals.
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 (0 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
8.0%
8.0% of Smyrna’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 Smyrna’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Smyrna Public Library serves 1,237 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
A year at Smyrna Public Library
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
841 print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 7,027 books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.1 time last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
63 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Smyrna last year.
Find it
Smyrna Public Library, 7 East Main Street, Smyrna.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Smyrna? 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 Smyrna cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $30K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $20K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $30K 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 88 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.
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.
- Digital loans not reported. New York libraries often don’t report e-book loans, so borrowing here is print only.
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 Smyrna
Does Smyrna have a public library?
Yes. Smyrna Public Library, 7 East Main Street, serves Smyrna’s 1,237 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 20 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Smyrna Public 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 Smyrna’s library?
It logged 1.7 visits and lent 0.7 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Smyrna’s civic life grade?
C Smyrna is ahead of 31% 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 Smyrna.
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.