Dill's Tavern · Photo: Smallbones · CC0Dillsburg’s library logs 2 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Dillsburg Area Public Library serves 22,566 people in and around Dillsburg. Last year it lent 87K books, movies and e-books and logged 45K visits.
The short version on Dillsburg’s library
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
67% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 15%. What your card is worth ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 66% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 65% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Most programs are for young children
70% of the 378 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 3.8 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Runs on less money than most
Dillsburg Area Public Library spends $12 per resident, less than 93% of similar-size libraries (typical: $43). What your card is worth ↓
Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf
Only 0% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 99% of similar-size libraries. 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; Dillsburg Area Public Library serves 22,566 people in and around Dillsburg, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Dillsburg’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Dillsburg is ahead of 49% of U.S. towns, #357 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Dillsburg is graded on two of the three inputs. Dillsburg’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 →
11 community nonprofits are registered in Dillsburg
4.0 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.
7.2%
7.2% of Dillsburg’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 Dillsburg’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Dillsburg Area Public Library serves 22,566 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 33 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Dillsburg Area Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
87K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 5 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
Dillsburg Area Public Library, 204 Mumper Ln, Dillsburg.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Dillsburg Area Public Library branch.
New in Dillsburg? 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 $4.69 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Dillsburg cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $278K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $278K 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 7,695 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Dillsburg Area Public Library serves 22,566 people in and around Dillsburg, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Dillsburg.
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 Dillsburg
Does Dillsburg have a public library?
Yes. Dillsburg Area Public Library, 204 Mumper Ln, serves 22,566 people in and around Dillsburg (the survey’s count) and is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Dillsburg Area 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 Dillsburg’s library?
It logged 2.0 visits and lent 3.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Dillsburg’s civic life grade?
B− Dillsburg is ahead of 49% of U.S. towns on civic life, #357 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 Dillsburg.
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.