Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 3.0Oneida’s library logs 0.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Oneida Public Library serves 12,905 people in and around Oneida. Last year it lent 18K books, movies and e-books and logged 5,797 visits.
The short version on Oneida’s library
Oneida Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Oneida Public Library records 0.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people. Borrowing is 0.4 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9. It also spends less than most: $5 per resident, against a typical $43. How it compares ↓
Most of the library’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 67% of loans. That’s partly because print borrowing is low: digital loans per resident are below typical too. What people borrow ↓
Runs on less money than most
Oneida Public Library spends $5 per resident, less than 99% 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; Oneida Public Library serves 12,905 people in and around Oneida, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Oneida’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Oneida is ahead of 56% of U.S. towns, #29 of 150 in Tennessee. Oneida is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Oneida’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 Oneida
3.3 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.0%
9.0% of Oneida’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.7% in the typical Tennessee 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 Oneida’s residents live; 2022.
67% of borrowing is digital
18K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
11,854 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 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Oneida Public Library serves 12,905 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 8 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Oneida Public Library system. The library’s own count.
What kids borrow
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.
Find it
Oneida Public Library, 290 South Main Street, Oneida.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Oneida Public Library branch.
New in Oneida? 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 $4.29 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Oneida cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $63K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $270K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $63K 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 5,698 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winfield | Winfield Public Library fine-free | 0.8 | 20 | C− |
| Oneida | Oneida Public Library fine-free | — | 42 | 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. Oneida Public Library serves 12,905 people in and around Oneida, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Oneida.
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 Oneida
Does Oneida have a public library?
Yes. Oneida Public Library, 290 South Main Street, serves 12,905 people in and around Oneida (the survey’s count) and is open about 42 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Oneida Public 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 Oneida’s library?
It logged 0.4 visits and lent 1.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Oneida’s civic life grade?
B Oneida is ahead of 56% of U.S. towns on civic life, #29 of 150 in Tennessee. 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 Oneida.
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.