Colonial Park’s library is a branch of Dauphin County Library System, which lends more per resident than 51% of systems its size
Colonial Park’s library is the East Shore Area Library, a branch of Dauphin County Library System, which serves 252,153 people and lent 1.1M items last year.
What stands out about East Shore Area Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Colonial Park’s civic life grade
Colonial Park isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Dauphin County Library System serves 252,153 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 63 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Dauphin County Library System system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
1.1M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
285,860 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 21 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
East Shore Area Library, 4501 Ethel Street, Harrisburg.
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 Dauphin County Library System branch.
New in Colonial Park? 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 $2.33 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Colonial Park cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $7.6M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $18M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $7.6M 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 57,649 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.
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. East Shore Area Library is one branch of Dauphin County Library System, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 252,153 people it serves.
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 Colonial Park
Does Colonial Park have a public library?
Yes: East Shore Area Library, 4501 Ethel Street, is a branch of Dauphin County Library System, which serves 252,153 people. The branch is open about 63 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Dauphin County Library System 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 Colonial Park’s library?
It logged 2.1 visits and lent 4.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Colonial Park’s civic life grade?
Colonial Park isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Colonial Park.
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.