Photo: TulGuy · CC BY 4.0Yale’s library lends 8.1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Yale Public Library serves Yale’s 1,069 residents. Last year it lent 8,663 books, movies and e-books and logged 5,473 visits.
The short version on Yale’s library
Programs are almost all for children
98% of the 129 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including 28 for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
A small-town library
Yale Public Library serves 1,069 residents with about 2 full-time staff, open about 34 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 Yale has a card
932 cards for 1,069 people, or 87%. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
A place to get online
Yale Public Library logs about 28 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 4 public computers. That’s 9.6 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf
Only 0% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 99% of similar-size libraries. 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Yale’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Yale is ahead of 68% of U.S. towns. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Yale’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 →
3 community nonprofits are registered in Yale
3.2 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 (0 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.6%
9.6% of Yale’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 9.7% in the typical Oklahoma 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 Yale’s residents live; 2022.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
8,663 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 17K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.5 time last year, on average.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Yale Public Library serves 1,069 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.
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.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Yale last year.
Find it
Yale Public Library, 213 N Main, Yale.
Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Yale? 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 $2.12 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Yale cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $83K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $176K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $83K 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 932 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Yale Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Yale
Does Yale have a public library?
Yes. Yale Public Library, 213 N Main, serves Yale’s 1,069 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 34 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Yale Public Library fine-free?
It charges late fines on some overdue items (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Yale’s library?
It logged 5.1 visits and lent 8.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Yale’s civic life grade?
B+ Yale is ahead of 68% 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 Yale.
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.