Photo: Doug Kerr · CC BY-SA 2.0Sodus’ library logs 5.5 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Sodus Community Library serves 7,209 people in and around Sodus. Last year it lent 38K books, movies and e-books and logged 40K visits.
What stands out about Sodus Community Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Sodus’ civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Sodus is ahead of 67% of U.S. towns. Sodus is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Sodus’ 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 →
6 community nonprofits are registered in Sodus
3.6 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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.7%
9.7% of Sodus’ 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 Sodus’ residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Sodus Community Library serves 7,209 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 Sodus Community Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
38K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
7,843 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
Sodus Community Library, 17 Maple Avenue, Sodus.
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 Sodus Community Library branch.
New in Sodus? 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 $1.85 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Sodus cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $330K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $612K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $330K 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 2,343 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Sodus Community Library serves 7,209 people in and around Sodus, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Sodus.
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 Sodus
Does Sodus have a public library?
Yes. Sodus Community Library, 17 Maple Avenue, serves 7,209 people in and around Sodus (the survey’s count) and is open about 59 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Sodus Community 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 Sodus’ library?
It logged 5.5 visits and lent 5.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Sodus’ civic life grade?
B+ Sodus is ahead of 67% 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 Sodus.
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.