Photo: Mr. Matté (if there is an issue with this image, contact me using this image's Commons talk page, my Commons user talk page, or my English Wikipedia user talk page; I'll know about it a lot faster) · CC BY-SA 4.0Wawarsing’s library lends 1.8 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Ellenville Public Library and Museum serves 12,454 people in and around Wawarsing. Last year it lent 23K print books and media and logged 22K visits.
What stands out about Ellenville Public Library & Museum
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Wawarsing’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Wawarsing is ahead of 24% of U.S. towns, #592 of 751 in New York. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Wawarsing’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($48K–$80K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
45 community nonprofits are registered in Wawarsing
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 (20 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.5%
6.5% of Wawarsing’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 Wawarsing’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Ellenville Public Library and Museum serves 12,454 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 8 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Ellenville Public Library and Museum system. The library’s own count.
Books and media off the shelf
23K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
329 programs a year
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.
2 places to borrow in Wawarsing
Ellenville Public Library & Museum, 40 Center Street, Ellenville.
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 Ellenville Public Library and Museum branch.
New in Wawarsing? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other Ellenville Public Library and Museum branches in Wawarsing
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Wawarsing cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $762K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $427K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $762K 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 4,066 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gardiner | Gardiner Library fine-free | 9.9 | 48 | A− |
| Cragsmoor | Cragsmoor Free Library fine-free | 4.7 | 23 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Shawangunk | Wallkill Public Library fine-free | 3.4 | 50 | C |
| Mamakating | Mamakating Library fine-free | 3.2 | 45 | C− |
| Wawarsing | Ellenville Public Library & Museum fine-free | — | 54 | C− |
| Ellenville | Ellenville Public Library & Museum fine-free | — | 54 | B |
| Fallsburg | Fallsburg Library fine-free | — | 35 | D |
| Neversink | Daniel Pierce Library | — | 39 | B |
| Rochester | None of its own | — | — | A |
| Walker Valley | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Denning | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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.
- System-wide. Ellenville Public Library and Museum serves 12,454 people in and around Wawarsing, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Wawarsing.
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 Wawarsing
Does Wawarsing have a public library?
Yes. Ellenville Public Library and Museum, 40 Center Street, serves 12,454 people in and around Wawarsing (the survey’s count) and is open about 54 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Ellenville Public Library and Museum 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 Wawarsing’s library?
It logged 1.8 visits and lent 1.8 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Wawarsing’s civic life grade?
C− Wawarsing is ahead of 24% of U.S. towns on civic life, #592 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 Wawarsing.
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.