Clarks Summit’s library runs 39 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Abington Community Library serves 31,027 people in and around Clarks Summit. Last year it lent 238K books, movies and e-books and logged 104K visits.
What Clarks Summit’s library is like
Three times the programs of a typical library its size
Abington Community Library ran 1,215 programs last year, about 23 a week. That’s 39 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14. Kids & programs ↓
Open about 67 hours a week
The Clarks Summit branch is open about 67 hours a week, averaged over the year. The building ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
25% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 63%. What your card is worth ↓
Programs lean toward adults
50% of the 1,215 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 483 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; Abington Community Library serves 31,027 people in and around Clarks Summit, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Clarks Summit’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Clarks Summit is ahead of 60% of U.S. towns, #237 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Clarks Summit is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Clarks Summit’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
15 community nonprofits are registered in Clarks Summit
3.0 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.
10.0%
10.0% of Clarks Summit’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 Clarks Summit’s residents live; 2022.
About 9 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Abington Community Library serves 31,027 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 68 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Abington Community Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
238K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
32,824 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Abington Community Library, 1200 West Grove Street, Clarks Summit.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Abington Community Library branch.
New in Clarks Summit? 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 $4.52 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Clarks Summit cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $803K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $803K 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 12,294 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clarks Summit | Abington Community Library | — | 67 | B |
| South Abington Township | None of its own | — | — | B |
| Clarks Green | None of its own | — | — | B |
| Waverly Township | None of its own | — | — | A |
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. Abington Community Library serves 31,027 people in and around Clarks Summit, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Clarks Summit.
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 Clarks Summit
Does Clarks Summit have a public library?
Yes. Abington Community Library, 1200 West Grove Street, serves 31,027 people in and around Clarks Summit (the survey’s count) and is open about 67 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Abington Community 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 Clarks Summit’s library?
It logged 3.3 visits and lent 7.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Clarks Summit’s civic life grade?
B Clarks Summit is ahead of 60% of U.S. towns on civic life, #237 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 Clarks Summit.
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.