Photo: Mvincec · Public domainAliquippa’s library runs 21 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
B F Jones Memorial Library serves 27,774 people in and around Aliquippa. Last year it lent 52K books, movies and e-books and logged 33K visits.
What Aliquippa’s library is like
B F Jones Memorial Library is used less than most libraries its size
B F Jones Memorial Library records 1.2 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people. Borrowing is 1.4 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7. It also spends less than most: $23 per resident, against a typical $40. How it compares ↓
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
50% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 8%. What your card is worth ↓
The branch is a National Register landmark
B. F. Jones Memorial Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1978. Today’s library there has 15,021 square feet. The building ↓
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; B F Jones Memorial Library serves 27,774 people in and around Aliquippa, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Aliquippa’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Aliquippa is ahead of 28% of U.S. towns, #654 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Aliquippa is graded on two of the three inputs. Aliquippa’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($38K–$63K) 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 →
36 community nonprofits are registered in Aliquippa
3.9 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. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.4%
5.4% of Aliquippa’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 7.0% in the typical Pennsylvania 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 Aliquippa’s residents live; 2022.
A National Register landmark since 1978
B F Jones Memorial Library, 663 Franklin Ave, Aliquippa.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every B F Jones Memorial Library branch.
New in Aliquippa? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
B. F. Jones Memorial Library
Jones, B. F., Memorial Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Dec 15, 1978. It is significant for its architecture and social history at the local level. Its architecture is described as Italian Renaissance.
The B.F. Jones Memorial Library is a historic library in Aliquippa, a city in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States. Named for steel tycoon Benjamin Franklin Jones, it was built in 1927 with money donated by Jones' daughter. As a product of the profits of the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company, for which Aliquippa was a company town, it resembled a Carnegie library.
More about the building →Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
B F Jones Memorial Library serves 27,774 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 20 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole B F Jones Memorial Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
52K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
13,540 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 6 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.
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.32 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Aliquippa cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $647K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $852K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $647K 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 6,046 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baden | Baden Memorial Library | 6.6 | 43 | C |
| Aliquippa | B F Jones Memorial Library | — | 52 | C |
| Ambridge | Laughlin Memorial Free Library | — | 44 | B− |
| Hopewell Township | None of its own | — | — | C |
| Harmony Township | None of its own | — | — | 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.
- System-wide. B F Jones Memorial Library serves 27,774 people in and around Aliquippa, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Aliquippa.
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 Aliquippa
Does Aliquippa have a public library?
Yes. B F Jones Memorial Library, 663 Franklin Ave, serves 27,774 people in and around Aliquippa (the survey’s count) and is open about 52 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is B F Jones Memorial 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 Aliquippa’s library?
It logged 1.2 visits and lent 1.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Aliquippa’s civic life grade?
C Aliquippa is ahead of 28% of U.S. towns on civic life, #654 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. 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 Aliquippa.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.