Photo: Dough4872 · CC BY-SA 3.0Elsmere’s library is a branch of Department of Community Services, which lends more per resident than 70% of systems its size
Elsmere’s library is the Elsmere Public Library, a branch of Department of Community Services, which serves 449,061 people and lent 2.7M items last year.
What stands out about Elsmere Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Elsmere’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Elsmere has fewer per resident than most U.S. towns. Elsmere is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the U.S. middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($51K–$85K) 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 →
2 community nonprofits are registered in Elsmere
0.2 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.
4.3%
4.3% of Elsmere’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 5.6% in the typical Delaware 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 Elsmere’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Department of Community Services serves 449,061 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
A year at Department of Community Services
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Department of Community Services system. The library’s own count.
Not reported for 2024: hours open. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
2.7M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
511,517 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 43 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, 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
Elsmere Public Library, 30 Spruce Avenue, Elsmere.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Department of Community Services branch.
New in Elsmere? 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 $2.03 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Elsmere cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $21M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $42M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $21M 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 148,877 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wilmington | Wilmington Institute Library | 1.8 | 54 | B |
| Elsmere | Elsmere Public Library | — | 27 | D− |
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.
- Not reported for 2024: hours open. The survey filled the figure with its own estimate, so it is left out.
- System-wide. Elsmere Public Library is one branch of Department of Community Services, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 449,061 people it serves.
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 Elsmere
Does Elsmere have a public library?
Yes: Elsmere Public Library, 30 Spruce Avenue, is a branch of Department of Community Services, which serves 449,061 people. The branch is open about 27 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Department of Community Services 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 Elsmere’s library?
It logged 2.8 visits and lent 6.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Elsmere’s civic life grade?
D− Elsmere has fewer community nonprofits per resident, and fewer younger adults in volunteering groups, than most U.S. towns. 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 Elsmere.
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.