Photo: Doug Kerr · CC BY-SA 2.0Wilna’s library runs 73 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Carthage Free Library serves 5,016 people in and around Wilna. Last year it lent 27K print books and media and logged 11K visits.
What Wilna’s library is like
More library cards than residents
5,343 cards for 5,016 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, it’s 42%. How it compares ↓
A place to get online
Carthage Free Library logs about 246 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 4 public computers. That’s 18 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
Programs lean toward adults
59% of the 366 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 89 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
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 Wilna’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Wilna is ahead of 36% of U.S. towns, #490 of 751 in New York. Wilna is graded on two of the three inputs. Wilna’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($45K–$75K) 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 →
24 community nonprofits are registered in Wilna
4.2 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.
6.0%
6.0% of Wilna’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 Wilna’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 7 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Carthage Free Library serves 5,016 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 11 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
27K print loans last year. The library didn’t report its e-book and e-audiobook loans.
Each of the 19K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.4 time last year, on average.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 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.
Find it
Carthage Free Library, 412 Budd Street, Carthage.
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 Wilna? 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 $3.27 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Wilna cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $214K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $701K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $214K 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 5,343 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Wilna ranks 2nd of 4 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Croghan | Croghan Free Library fine-free | 35.7 | 24 | C |
| Wilna | Carthage Free Library fine-free | 5.4 | 46 | C+ |
| Carthage | Carthage Free Library fine-free | 5.4 | 46 | C+ |
| Antwerp | Crosby Public Library fine-free | 1.1 | 23 | C+ |
| Diana | Harrisville Free Library fine-free | — | 40 | B− |
| Champion | None of its own | — | — | B− |
| Deferiet | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| West Carthage | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| Denmark | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| Herrings | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Great Bend | 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.
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 Wilna
Does Wilna have a public library?
Yes. Carthage Free Library, 412 Budd Street, serves 5,016 people in and around Wilna (the survey’s count) and is open about 46 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Carthage Free 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 Wilna’s library?
It logged 2.1 visits and lent 5.4 print items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Wilna’s civic life grade?
C+ Wilna is ahead of 36% of U.S. towns on civic life, #490 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 Wilna.
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.