Lane Cabin · Photo: 25or6to4 · CC BY-SA 4.0Beaver’s library logs 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Beaver County Pioneer Library serves 5,018 people in and around Beaver. Last year it lent 6,728 books, movies and e-books and logged 4,160 visits.
What Beaver’s library is like
Beaver County Pioneer Library is used less than most libraries its size
Beaver County Pioneer Library records 0.8 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people. Borrowing is 0.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8. It also spends less than most: $17 per resident, against a typical $43. How it compares ↓
Federal money pays a real share
5% of the budget comes from federal grants, and 79% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Programs lean toward adults
57% of the 98 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 30 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
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; Beaver County Pioneer Library serves 5,018 people in and around Beaver, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Beaver’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Beaver is ahead of 90% of U.S. towns. Beaver is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Beaver’s count of community nonprofits ranks highest.
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 →
14 community nonprofits are registered in Beaver
8.8 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 (6 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
8.8%
8.8% of Beaver’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 Beaver’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Beaver County Pioneer Library serves 5,018 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 4 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Beaver County Pioneer Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
6,728 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
2,321 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
98 programs a year
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
Beaver County Pioneer Library, 201 Douglas Ave, Beaver.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Beaver County Pioneer Library branch.
New in Beaver? 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 $1.50 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Beaver cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $84K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $126K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $84K 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 2,419 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Beaver County Pioneer Library serves 5,018 people in and around Beaver, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Beaver.
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 Beaver
Does Beaver have a public library?
Yes. Beaver County Pioneer Library, 201 Douglas Ave, serves 5,018 people in and around Beaver (the survey’s count) and is open about 36 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Beaver County Pioneer 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 Beaver’s library?
It logged 0.8 visits and lent 1.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Beaver’s civic life grade?
A Beaver is ahead of 90% 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 Beaver.
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.