Photo: Generic1139 · CC BY 3.0Bentleyville’s library logs 1.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Bentleyville Public Library serves 8,060 people in and around Bentleyville. Last year it lent 19K books, movies and e-books and logged 12K visits.
What Bentleyville’s library is like
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
71% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 14%. What your card is worth ↓
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, Bentleyville Public Library sits below the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on five. How it compares ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 13% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 42% for its size. How it compares ↓
Programs lean toward adults
58% of the 239 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 98 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; Bentleyville Public Library serves 8,060 people in and around Bentleyville, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Bentleyville’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Bentleyville is ahead of 61% of U.S. towns. Bentleyville is graded on two of the three inputs. Bentleyville’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 →
23 community nonprofits are registered in Bentleyville
9.4 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (7 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.5%
5.5% of Bentleyville’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 Bentleyville’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Bentleyville Public Library serves 8,060 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 8 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Bentleyville Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
19K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
1,614 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
Bentleyville Public Library, 931 Main St., Bentleyville.
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 Bentleyville Public Library branch.
New in Bentleyville? 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 $2.34 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Bentleyville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $138K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $324K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $138K 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 1,069 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bentleyville | Bentleyville Public Library fine-free | — | 44 | B |
| Somerset Township | None of its own | — | — | D |
| Fallowfield Township | None of its own | — | — | C |
| Ellsworth | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| West Pike Run 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. Bentleyville Public Library serves 8,060 people in and around Bentleyville, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Bentleyville.
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 Bentleyville
Does Bentleyville have a public library?
Yes. Bentleyville Public Library, 931 Main St., serves 8,060 people in and around Bentleyville (the survey’s count) and is open about 44 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Bentleyville Public 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 Bentleyville’s library?
It logged 1.4 visits and lent 2.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Bentleyville’s civic life grade?
B Bentleyville is ahead of 61% 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 Bentleyville.
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.