Wolcott Square Historic District · Photo: Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0Wolcott’s library runs 499 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60 for libraries its size
Red Creek Free Library serves 495 people in and around Wolcott. Last year it lent 8,608 books, movies and e-books and logged 5,743 visits.
What Wolcott’s library is like
Eight times the programs of a typical library its size
Red Creek Free Library ran 247 programs last year, about 5 a week. That’s 499 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 60. People show up: 1,101 attended. Kids & programs ↓
Wolcott uses its library more than almost any town its size
Red Creek Free Library logs 12 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people, and lends 15 print items per resident against a typical 3.9. On both counts it beats 92% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
Kids borrow more here than almost anywhere
Children’s books and media are 49% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 95% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
A small-town library
Red Creek Free Library serves 495 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 32 hours a week. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
Nearly everyone in Wolcott has a card
464 cards for 495 people, or 94%. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Wolcott’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Wolcott is ahead of 46% of U.S. towns, #397 of 751 in New York. Wolcott is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Wolcott’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 →
12 community nonprofits are registered in Wolcott
2.9 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 (5 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
8.6%
8.6% of Wolcott’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 Wolcott’s residents live; 2022.
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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Red Creek Free Library serves 495 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 5 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
8,608 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 12K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.6 time last year, on average.
1,376 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Red Creek Free Library, 6817 Main Street, Red Creek.
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 Wolcott? 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 $1.76 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Wolcott cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $80K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $141K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $80K 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 464 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Wolcott borrows the most per resident of the 4 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wolcott | Red Creek Free Library fine-free | 17.4 | 32 | B− |
| Red Creek | Red Creek Free Library fine-free | 17.4 | 32 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Butler | Wolcott Public Library fine-free | 13.2 | 31 | B− |
| Sterling | Village of Fair Haven Public Library fine-free | 9.2 | 21 | B− |
| Victory | None of its own | — | — | C |
| Huron | 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 Wolcott
Does Wolcott have a public library?
Yes. Red Creek Free Library, 6817 Main Street, serves 495 people in and around Wolcott (the survey’s count) and is open about 32 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Red Creek 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 Wolcott’s library?
It logged 11.6 visits and lent 17.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Wolcott’s civic life grade?
B− Wolcott is ahead of 46% of U.S. towns on civic life, #397 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 Wolcott.
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.