Photo: JERRYE & ROY KLOTZ MD · CC BY-SA 3.0Bern Township’s library logs 1.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Schuylkill Valley Community Library serves 15,702 people in and around Bern Township. Last year it lent 57K books, movies and e-books and logged 20K visits.
The short version on Bern Township’s library
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
36% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 31%. What your card is worth ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 75% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 62% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 15% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 40% for its size. How it compares ↓
Runs on less money than most
Schuylkill Valley Community Library spends $11 per resident, less than 95% of similar-size libraries (typical: $43). What your card is worth ↓
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; Schuylkill Valley Community Library serves 15,702 people in and around Bern Township, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Bern Township’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Bern Township is ahead of 37% of U.S. towns, #527 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Bern Township is graded on two of the three inputs. Bern Township’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 ($88K–$147K) 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 →
28 community nonprofits are registered in Bern Township
4.1 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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.2%
6.2% of Bern 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 Bern Township’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Schuylkill Valley Community Library serves 15,702 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 25 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Schuylkill Valley Community Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
57K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
7,127 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 4 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
Schuylkill Valley Community Library, 1310 Washington Rd, Leesport.
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 Schuylkill Valley Community Library branch.
New in Bern 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 $4.90 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Bern Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $168K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $823K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $168K 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 2,348 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wyomissing | Wyomissing Public Library fine-free | 5.4 | 47 | B+ |
| Spring Township | Spring Township Library fine-free | 4.6 | 46 | C |
| Reading | Reading Public Library fine-free | 1.6 | 51 | D− |
| Bern Township | Schuylkill Valley Community Library fine-free | — | 43 | C+ |
| Muhlenberg Township | Muhlenberg Community Library fine-free | — | 44 | D |
| Lower Heidelberg Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Ontelaunee Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Greenfields | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Leesport | None of its own | — | — | B |
| Riverview Park | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Penn Township | None of its own | — | — | B |
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. Schuylkill Valley Community Library serves 15,702 people in and around Bern Township, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Bern 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 Bern Township
Does Bern Township have a public library?
Yes. Schuylkill Valley Community Library, 1310 Washington Rd, serves 15,702 people in and around Bern Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 43 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Schuylkill Valley Community 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 Bern Township’s library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 3.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Bern Township’s civic life grade?
C+ Bern Township is ahead of 37% of U.S. towns on civic life, #527 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 Bern 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.