Photo: Doug Kerr from Upstate New York · CC BY-SA 2.0Whitehall’s library logs 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Whitehall Free Library serves 4,791 people in and around Whitehall. Last year it lent 4,585 books, movies and e-books and logged 3,123 visits.
Whitehall’s library, in brief
Whitehall Free Library is used less than most libraries its size
Whitehall Free Library records 0.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people. Borrowing is 0.7 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8. It also spends less than most: $11 per resident, against a typical $43. How it compares ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
40% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 57%. What your card is worth ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 16% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 42% for its size. How it compares ↓
Programs lean toward adults
58% of the 72 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 16 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
Runs on less money than most
Whitehall Free Library spends $11 per resident, less than 95% of similar-size libraries (typical: $43). What your card is worth ↓
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; Whitehall Free Library serves 4,791 people in and around Whitehall, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Whitehall’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Whitehall is ahead of 75% of U.S. towns. Whitehall is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Whitehall’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
8 community nonprofits are registered in Whitehall
3.0 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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
19.2%
19.2% of Whitehall’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 Whitehall’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Whitehall Free Library serves 4,791 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 4 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Whitehall Free Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
4,585 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
1,435 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
72 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.
Find it
Whitehall Free Library, 12 Williams Street, Whitehall.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Whitehall Free Library branch.
New in Whitehall? 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 $1.48 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Whitehall cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $53K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $79K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $53K 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 763 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whitehall | Whitehall Free Library | — | 25 | B+ |
| Dresden | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| West Haven | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Fort Ann | 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.
- System-wide. Whitehall Free Library serves 4,791 people in and around Whitehall, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Whitehall.
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 Whitehall
Does Whitehall have a public library?
Yes. Whitehall Free Library, 12 Williams Street, serves 4,791 people in and around Whitehall (the survey’s count) and is open about 25 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Whitehall 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 Whitehall’s library?
It logged 0.7 visits and lent 1.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Whitehall’s civic life grade?
B+ Whitehall is ahead of 75% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Whitehall.
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.