Photo: Mr. Matté (if there is an issue with this image, contact me using this image's Commons talk page, my Commons user talk page, or my English Wikipedia user talk page; I'll know about it a lot faster) · CC BY-SA 4.0Barrett Township’s library runs 27 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Barrett Paradise Friendly Library serves 6,952 people in and around Barrett Township. Last year it lent 37K books, movies and e-books and logged 18K visits.
What stands out about Barrett Paradise Friendly Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Barrett Township’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Barrett Township is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns, #144 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Barrett Township is graded on two of the three inputs. Barrett Township’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups 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 →
25 community nonprofits are registered in Barrett Township
6.3 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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.2%
7.2% of Barrett Township’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 Barrett Township’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Barrett Paradise Friendly Library serves 6,952 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 15 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Barrett Paradise Friendly Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
37K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
5,902 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 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
Barrett Paradise Friendly Library, 6500 Route 191, Cresco.
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 Barrett Paradise Friendly Library branch.
New in Barrett 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 $1.49 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Barrett Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $379K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $566K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $379K 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 2,970 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barrett Township | Barrett Paradise Friendly Library fine-free | — | 47 | B+ |
| Greene Township | None of its own | — | — | B |
| Price Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Paradise Township | None of its own | — | — | C |
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. Barrett Paradise Friendly Library serves 6,952 people in and around Barrett Township, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Barrett Township.
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 Barrett Township
Does Barrett Township have a public library?
Yes. Barrett Paradise Friendly Library, 6500 Route 191, serves 6,952 people in and around Barrett Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 47 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Barrett Paradise Friendly 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 Barrett Township’s library?
It logged 2.6 visits and lent 5.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Barrett Township’s civic life grade?
B+ Barrett Township is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns on civic life, #144 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 Barrett 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.