Beaver, Thomas, Free Library and Danville YMCA · Photo: Smallbones · CC0Danville’s library runs 38 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Thomas Beaver Free Library serves 21,375 people in and around Danville. Last year it lent 44K books, movies and e-books and logged 34K visits.
What Danville’s library is like
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
87% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 0%. What your card is worth ↓
Programs are almost all for children
82% of the 805 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 12 a week for ages 0–5. 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; Thomas Beaver Free Library serves 21,375 people in and around Danville, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Danville’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Danville is ahead of 49% of U.S. towns, #361 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Danville is graded on two of the three inputs. Danville’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 →
19 community nonprofits are registered in Danville
4.6 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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.
6.6%
6.6% of Danville’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 Danville’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.
Thomas Beaver Free Library serves 21,375 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 18 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Thomas Beaver Free Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
44K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
15,556 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 13 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
Thomas Beaver Free Library, 317 Ferry Street, Danville.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Thomas Beaver Free Library branch.
New in Danville? 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 $2.39 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Danville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $322K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $770K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $322K 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 7,304 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Thomas Beaver Free Library serves 21,375 people in and around Danville, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Danville.
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 Danville
Does Danville have a public library?
Yes. Thomas Beaver Free Library, 317 Ferry Street, serves 21,375 people in and around Danville (the survey’s count) and is open about 47 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Thomas Beaver 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 Danville’s library?
It logged 1.6 visits and lent 2.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Danville’s civic life grade?
B− Danville is ahead of 49% of U.S. towns on civic life, #361 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 Danville.
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.