Pike Township’s library logs 1.5 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Advance Community Library serves 1,349 people in and around Pike Township. Last year it lent 5,447 books, movies and e-books and logged 1,975 visits.
Pike Township’s library, in brief
More library cards than residents
1,689 cards for 1,349 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
A small-town library
Advance Community Library serves 1,349 residents with about one full-time staff. 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 ↓
Open only about 19 hours a week
Advance Community Library keeps short hours: about 19 a week, averaged over the year, so check its schedule before you go. Bloomfield Public Library in Castor Township, next door, is open about 39 hours a week. The building ↓
Most of Pike Township’s borrowing is digital
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 54% of loans, more per resident than at 76% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 46%. What people borrow ↓
Missouri pays a big share
20% of the budget comes from the state, and 76% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Pike Township’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Pike Township is ahead of 46% of U.S. towns, #162 of 229 in Missouri. Pike Township is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Pike Township’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 →
8 community nonprofits are registered in Pike Township
2.3 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 (10 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.7%
9.7% of Pike Township’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 9.3% in the typical Missouri 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 Pike Township’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Advance Community Library serves 1,349 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 6 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
54% of borrowing is digital
5,447 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 11K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.2 time last year, on average.
2,937 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
48 programs a year
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.
Find it
Advance Community Library, 305 Poplar St., Advance.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Pike Township? 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 $3.55 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Pike Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $24K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $84K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $24K 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 1,689 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pike Township | Advance Community Library | 4.0 | 19 | B− |
| Castor Township | Bloomfield Public Library fine-free | 4.0 | 39 | C+ |
| Richland Township | None of its own | — | — | B |
| New Lisbon Township | None of its own | — | — | — graded with its twin city |
| Perkins | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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 Pike Township
Does Pike Township have a public library?
Yes. Advance Community Library, 305 Poplar St., serves 1,349 people in and around Pike Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 19 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Advance Community 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 Pike Township’s library?
It logged 1.5 visits and lent 4.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Pike Township’s civic life grade?
B− Pike Township is ahead of 46% of U.S. towns on civic life, #162 of 229 in Missouri. 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 Pike Township.
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.