Photo: Doug Kerr from now in Binghamton, NY · CC BY-SA 2.0Waterloo’s library logs 8.6 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Waterloo Library and Historical Society serves Waterloo’s 4,810 residents. Last year it lent 21K books, movies and e-books and logged 41K visits.
What Waterloo’s library is like
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
40% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 55%. What your card is worth ↓
Top 10% in New York for library use
Waterloo ranks #18 of 241 New York towns with a library of their own for visits per resident. That’s 8.6 visits per resident, more than at 91% of similar-size libraries nationwide. How it compares ↓
The library is a National Register landmark
Waterloo Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1996. Today’s library there has 4,790 square feet. The building ↓
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 Waterloo’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Waterloo is ahead of 61% of U.S. towns, #280 of 751 in New York. Library visits hold the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups 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 →
17 community nonprofits are registered in Waterloo
3.6 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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.
6.4%
6.4% of Waterloo’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 Waterloo’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 10 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Waterloo Library and Historical Society serves 4,810 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
21K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 20K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.9 time last year, on average.
3,604 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 3 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 Waterloo last year.
A National Register landmark since 1996
Waterloo Library and Historical Society, 31 East Williams Street, Waterloo.
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 Waterloo? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Waterloo Library
Waterloo Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Jun 14, 1996. It is significant for its architecture and education at the local level. Its architecture is described as Queen Anne.
Waterloo Library, also known as the Waterloo Library and Historical Society, is a historic library building located at Waterloo in Seneca County, New York. The second story of the two-story frame structure contains a small theater.
More about the building →For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.24 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Waterloo cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $324K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $401K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $324K 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 2,282 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.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waterloo | Waterloo Library and Historical Society fine-free | 4.4 | 41 | B |
| Seneca Falls | Seneca Falls Library fine-free | — | 57 | A− |
| Fayette | None of its own | — | — | C− |
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.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Waterloo
Does Waterloo have a public library?
Yes. Waterloo Library and Historical Society, 31 East Williams Street, serves Waterloo’s 4,810 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 41 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Waterloo Library and Historical Society 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 Waterloo’s library?
It logged 8.6 visits and lent 4.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Waterloo’s civic life grade?
B Waterloo is ahead of 61% of U.S. towns on civic life, #280 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 Waterloo.
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.