Photo: Paulo Ordoveza from Washington, DC · CC BY 2.0Derry Township’s library lends 9.5 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Hershey Public Library serves Derry Township’s 24,715 residents. Last year it lent 318K books, movies and e-books and logged 126K visits.
What Derry Township’s library is like
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3.4 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.1, higher than at 91% of similar-size libraries. It’s 26% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
Derry Township is a town of borrowers
Hershey Public Library lends 9.5 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, more than 89% of similar-size libraries. Each item on the shelves went out about 2.7 times last year. What people borrow ↓
Kids borrow more here than almost anywhere
Children’s books and media are 50% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 88% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 23 items per child in Derry Township last year. Kids & programs ↓
Programs lean toward adults
56% of the 1,251 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 347 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.
What’s behind Derry Township’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Derry Township is ahead of 72% of U.S. towns, #119 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Derry Township’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 →
167 community nonprofits are registered in Derry Township
6.7 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 (19 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 5 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.6%
6.6% of Derry 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 Derry Township’s residents live; 2022.
About 7 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 Derry Township last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Hershey Public Library serves 24,715 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 132 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
318K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 86K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.7 times last year, on average.
83,618 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Hershey Public Library, 701 Cocoa Ave., Hershey.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Derry 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 $4.47 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Derry Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4.8M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.1M 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 11,827 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Derry Township | Hershey Public Library | 12.9 | 46 | B+ |
| Hershey | Hershey Public Library | 12.9 | 46 | — graded as part of its town |
| Hummelstown | William H & Marion C Alexander Family Library fine-free | — | 45 | B |
| East Hanover Township | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| South Hanover Township | None of its own | — | — | B− |
| Lower Swatara Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Swatara Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Union Deposit | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Palmdale | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Palmyra | None of its own | — | — | C |
| North Londonderry Township | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
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 Derry Township
Does Derry Township have a public library?
Yes. Hershey Public Library, 701 Cocoa Ave., serves Derry Township’s 24,715 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 46 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Hershey Public 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 Derry Township’s library?
It logged 5.1 visits and lent 12.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Derry Township’s civic life grade?
B+ Derry Township is ahead of 72% of U.S. towns on civic life, #119 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 Derry 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.