Solvay’s library logs 5.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Solvay Public Library serves Solvay’s 6,645 residents. Last year it lent 60K books, movies and e-books and logged 35K visits.
What Solvay’s library is like
The library is a National Register landmark
Solvay Public Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2007. Today’s library there has 11,712 square feet. The building ↓
Programs lean toward adults
61% of the 382 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 125 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 2.7 e-items per resident, against a typical 1, higher than at 86% of similar-size libraries. It’s 30% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
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.
What’s behind Solvay’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Solvay is ahead of 63% of U.S. towns, #264 of 751 in New York. Library visits hold the grade up; Solvay’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 →
23 community nonprofits are registered in Solvay
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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.9%
7.9% of Solvay’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 Solvay’s residents live; 2022.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
60K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 32K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.3 time last year, on average.
17,684 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Solvay Public Library serves 6,645 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 21 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
About 2 kids’ programs 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 Solvay last year.
A National Register landmark since 2007
Solvay Public Library, 615 Woods Road, Solvay.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Solvay? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Solvay Public Library
Solvay Public Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Oct 31, 2007. It is significant for its architecture, town planning, education and industry at the local level. Its architecture is described as Classical Revival.
The Solvay Public Library is a historic Carnegie library building located at Solvay in Onondaga County, New York. It was built between 1903 and 1905, and is a one-story, buff-colored brick building on a high basement. It has a hipped roof and Classical Revival style design elements including a distyle-in-antis portico in the Ionic order. It was built in part with a $10,000 donation from Andrew Carnegie.
More about the building →For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.33 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Solvay cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $412K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $959K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $412K 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 3,067 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Solvay borrows the most per resident of the 3 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solvay | Solvay Public Library fine-free | 9.0 | 55 | B |
| Geddes | Solvay Public Library fine-free | 9.0 | 55 | C+ |
| Camillus | Maxwell Memorial Library fine-free | 4.6 | 50 | C |
| Syracuse | Onondaga County Public Library fine-free | — | 54 | C |
| Fairmount | Fairmount Community Library fine-free | — | 47 | — 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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Solvay Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Solvay
Does Solvay have a public library?
Yes. Solvay Public Library, 615 Woods Road, serves Solvay’s 6,645 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 55 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Solvay 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 Solvay’s library?
It logged 5.3 visits and lent 9.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Solvay’s civic life grade?
B Solvay is ahead of 63% of U.S. towns on civic life, #264 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 Solvay.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.