West Nyack’s library logs 4.2 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
West Nyack Free Library serves 9,655 people in and around West Nyack. Last year it lent 79K books, movies and e-books and logged 40K visits.
What West Nyack’s library is like
A well-funded system
West Nyack Free Library spends $143 per resident a year, about three times the typical $43 for a library its size. Almost all of it (86%) comes from local taxes. What your card is worth ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 2.9 e-items per resident, against a typical 1, higher than at 88% of similar-size libraries. It’s 35% 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; West Nyack Free Library serves 9,655 people in and around West Nyack, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind West Nyack’s civic life grade
West Nyack isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average West Nyack cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.4M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.4M budget.
Late fines apply to some overdue items.
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 4,872 cardholders ÷ 12.
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.
West Nyack Free Library serves 9,655 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 25 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole West Nyack Free Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
79K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
27,730 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 4 kids’ programs a week
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.
Find it
West Nyack Free Library, 65 Strawtown Road, West Nyack.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every West Nyack Free Library branch.
New in West Nyack? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blauvelt | Blauvelt Free Library fine-free | 4.5 | 54 | — graded as part of its town |
| West Nyack | West Nyack Free Library | — | 62 | — graded as part of its town |
| Orangetown | Pearl River Public Library | — | 61 | B+ |
| Clarkstown | New City Free Library fine-free | — | 65 | B− |
| Nanuet | Nanuet Public Library | — | 59 | — graded as part of its town |
| Pearl River | Pearl River Public Library | — | 61 | — graded as part of its town |
| Bardonia | 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.
- System-wide. West Nyack Free Library serves 9,655 people in and around West Nyack, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just West Nyack.
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 West Nyack
Does West Nyack have a public library?
Yes. West Nyack Free Library, 65 Strawtown Road, serves 9,655 people in and around West Nyack (the survey’s count) and is open about 62 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is West Nyack Free Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
It charges late fines on some overdue items, and it lends e-books and audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is West Nyack’s library?
It logged 4.2 visits and lent 8.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is West Nyack’s civic life grade?
West Nyack isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in West Nyack.
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.