Photo: Daniel Case · CC BY-SA 3.0Yorktown’s library runs 27 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
John C. Hart Memorial Library serves Yorktown’s 36,569 residents. Last year it lent 406K books, movies and e-books and logged 141K visits.
What Yorktown’s library is like
44% of borrowing happens on a screen
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 44% of loans, more per resident than at 97% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 56%, much of it kids’ books. What people borrow ↓
Still charges late fines, unlike its neighbors
John C. Hart Memorial Library charges late fines on some overdue items. Two of the three libraries in neighboring towns have dropped them. 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.
What’s behind Yorktown’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Yorktown is ahead of 60% of U.S. towns, #285 of 751 in New York. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Yorktown’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 →
120 community nonprofits are registered in Yorktown
3.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (22 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 7 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
9.2%
9.2% of Yorktown’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 Yorktown’s residents live; 2022.
44% of borrowing is digital
406K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 80K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.8 times last year, on average.
179,825 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
John C. Hart Memorial Library serves 36,569 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 139 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
About 9 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.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Yorktown last year.
Find it
John C. Hart Memorial Library, 1130 East Main Street, Shrub Oak.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Yorktown? 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 $2.40 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Yorktown cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.6M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.6M 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 22,031 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yorktown | John C. Hart Memorial Library | 11.1 | 56 | B |
| Somers | The Somers Library fine-free | 7.6 | 47 | B+ |
| Cortlandt | Hendrick Hudson Free Library fine-free | — | 63 | B+ |
| New Castle | Chappaqua Central School District Public Library | — | 63 | A− |
| Lake Mohegan | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Jefferson Valley-Yorktown | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Yorktown Heights | 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.
- 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 Yorktown
Does Yorktown have a public library?
Yes. John C. Hart Memorial Library, 1130 East Main Street, serves Yorktown’s 36,569 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 56 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is John C. Hart Memorial 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 Yorktown’s library?
It logged 3.8 visits and lent 11.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Yorktown’s civic life grade?
B Yorktown is ahead of 60% of U.S. towns on civic life, #285 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 Yorktown.
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.