Photo: Lee Paxton · CC BY-SA 4.0Carnegie’s library logs 9.1 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Andrew Carnegie Free Library serves Carnegie’s 8,134 residents. Last year it lent 90K books, movies and e-books and logged 74K visits.
What Carnegie’s library is like
Top 10% in Pennsylvania for library use
Carnegie ranks #5 of 108 Pennsylvania towns with a library of their own for visits per resident. That’s 9.1 visits per resident, more than at 92% of similar-size libraries nationwide. How it compares ↓
The library is a National Register landmark
Andrew Carnegie Free Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1981. Today’s library there has 5,743 square feet. The building ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3.4 e-items per resident, against a typical 1, higher than at 92% of similar-size libraries. It’s 31% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
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.
What’s behind Carnegie’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Carnegie is ahead of 67% of U.S. towns, #163 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Library visits hold 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 →
33 community nonprofits are registered in Carnegie
4.1 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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.
6.5%
6.5% of Carnegie’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 Carnegie’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Andrew Carnegie Free Library serves 8,134 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 36 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
90K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 23K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.7 times last year, on average.
27,961 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, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Carnegie last year.
A National Register landmark since 1981
Andrew Carnegie Free Library, 300 Beechwood Ave, Carnegie.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Carnegie? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Andrew Carnegie Free Library
Carnegie, Andrew, Free Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Oct 8, 1981. It is significant for its architecture and social history at the local level. Its architecture is described as Beaux Arts.
The Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall (also known as the ACFL&MH or "Carnegie Carnegie") is a public library and music hall located at 300 Beechwood Avenue in Carnegie, Pennsylvania. Like hundreds of other Carnegie libraries, the construction of the ACFL&MH, which opened in 1901, was funded by industrialist Andrew Carnegie.
More about the building →For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $5.29 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Carnegie cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $275K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $275K 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 5,217 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carnegie | Andrew Carnegie Free Library fine-free | 11.0 | 47 | B+ |
| Scott Township | Scott Township Public Library fine-free | 4.7 | 47 | C |
| Robinson Township | Robinson Township Library fine-free | — | 53 | C− |
| Glendale | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Rosslyn Farms | 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.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Carnegie
Does Carnegie have a public library?
Yes. Andrew Carnegie Free Library, 300 Beechwood Ave, serves Carnegie’s 8,134 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 47 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Andrew Carnegie Free 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 Carnegie’s library?
It logged 9.1 visits and lent 11.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Carnegie’s civic life grade?
B+ Carnegie is ahead of 67% of U.S. towns on civic life, #163 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 Carnegie.
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.