Grace Episcopal Church · Photo: Doug Kerr from Upstate New York · CC BY-SA 2.0Triangle’s library lends 19 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Mary Wilcox Memorial Library serves 960 people in and around Triangle. Last year it lent 19K print books and media and logged 7,426 visits.
What Triangle’s library is like
More library cards than residents
1,967 cards for 960 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 56% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 98% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
Triangle is a town of borrowers
Mary Wilcox Memorial Library lends 19 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries serving under 2,500 people, more than 97% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
New York pays a big share
43% of the budget comes from the state, and 48% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
A small-town library
Mary Wilcox Memorial Library serves 960 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 38 hours a week. 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 ↓
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 Triangle’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Triangle is ahead of 89% of U.S. towns, #74 of 751 in New York. Triangle is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups ranks 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 →
13 community nonprofits are registered in Triangle
4.7 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
12.3%
12.3% of Triangle’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 Triangle’s residents live; 2022.
About 1 kids’ program 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Mary Wilcox Memorial Library serves 960 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 9 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
19K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 17K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.1 time last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Mary Wilcox Memorial Library, 2630 Main Street, Whitney Point.
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 Triangle? 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 $1.19 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Triangle cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $241K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $288K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $241K 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 1,967 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Triangle 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Triangle | Mary Wilcox Memorial Library fine-free | 19.4 | 38 | A |
| Greene | Moore Memorial Library | 4.3 | 54 | C+ |
| Lisle | Lisle Free Library | 1.4 | 38 | C− |
| Willet | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Barker | None of its own | — | — | B |
| Smithville | None of its own | — | — | B |
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 Triangle
Does Triangle have a public library?
Yes. Mary Wilcox Memorial Library, 2630 Main Street, serves 960 people in and around Triangle (the survey’s count) and is open about 38 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Mary Wilcox Memorial 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 Triangle’s library?
It logged 7.7 visits and lent 19.4 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Triangle’s civic life grade?
A Triangle is ahead of 89% of U.S. towns on civic life, #74 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 Triangle.
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.