Photo: Daniel Case · CC BY-SA 3.0Somers’ library logs 4.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
The Somers Library serves Somers’s 21,541 residents. Last year it lent 163K books, movies and e-books and logged 102K visits.
What stands out about Somers’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Somers’ civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Somers is ahead of 67% of U.S. towns, #232 of 751 in New York. All three inputs are above most U.S. towns; library visits rank 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 →
88 community nonprofits are registered in Somers
4.2 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 (8 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 4 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
8.0%
8.0% of Somers’ 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 Somers’ residents live; 2022.
54% of borrowing is digital
163K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 60K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.3 time last year, on average.
87,626 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 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
The Somers Library serves 21,541 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 66 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
About 4 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 Somers last year.
Find it
The Somers Library, Route 139, Somers.
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 Somers? 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 $2.14 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Somers cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.2M 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 8,096 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Somers ranks 3rd of 5 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yorktown | John C. Hart Memorial Library | 11.1 | 56 | B |
| Lewisboro | Lewisboro Library | 8.3 | 45 | A− |
| Somers | The Somers Library fine-free | 7.6 | 47 | B+ |
| North Salem | Ruth Keeler Memorial Library fine-free | 6.9 | 42 | B+ |
| Carmel | Reed Memorial Library fine-free | 1.8 | 42 | C |
| Bedford | Katonah Village Library fine-free | — | 52 | B+ |
| New Castle | Chappaqua Central School District Public Library | — | 63 | A− |
| Mahopac | Mahopac Public Library fine-free | — | 63 | — graded as part of its town |
| Golden's Bridge | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Jefferson Valley-Yorktown | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Yorktown Heights | 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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. The Somers 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 Somers
Does Somers have a public library?
Yes. The Somers Library, Route 139, serves Somers’ 21,541 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 47 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is The Somers 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 Somers’ library?
It logged 4.7 visits and lent 7.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Somers’ civic life grade?
B+ Somers is ahead of 67% of U.S. towns on civic life, #232 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 Somers.
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.