Photo: Nyttend · Public domainBeaver’s library logs 4.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Beaver Area Memorial Library serves 18,617 people in and around Beaver. Last year it lent 102K books, movies and e-books and logged 83K visits.
What’s behind Beaver’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Beaver is ahead of 74% of U.S. towns, #109 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. 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 →
26 community nonprofits are registered in Beaver
5.9 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (5 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.7%
7.7% of Beaver’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 Beaver’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Beaver Area Memorial Library serves 18,617 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 38 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Beaver Area Memorial Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
102K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
9,557 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
Beaver Area Memorial Library, 100 College Ave, Beaver.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Beaver Area Memorial 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 $3.70 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 $410K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $410K 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 7,194 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beaver | Beaver Area Memorial Library | — | 52 | B+ |
| Brighton Township | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
| Vanport Township | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
| Bridgewater | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Potter Township | 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.
- System-wide. Beaver Area Memorial Library serves 18,617 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 Area Memorial Library, 100 College Ave, serves 18,617 people in and around Beaver (the survey’s count) and is open about 52 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Beaver Area 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 Beaver’s library?
It logged 4.4 visits and lent 5.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Beaver’s civic life grade?
B+ Beaver is ahead of 74% of U.S. towns on civic life, #109 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 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.