Kreider Shoe Manufacturing Company · Photo: Niagara · CC BY 3.0Elizabethtown’s library logs 4.6 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Elizabethtown Public Library serves 31,985 people in and around Elizabethtown. Last year it lent 202K books, movies and e-books and logged 147K visits.
The short version on Elizabethtown’s library
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
59% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 26%. What your card is worth ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 62% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 79% 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; Elizabethtown Public Library serves 31,985 people in and around Elizabethtown, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Elizabethtown’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Elizabethtown is ahead of 24% of U.S. towns, #734 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Elizabethtown is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Elizabethtown’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($57K–$95K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
41 community nonprofits are registered in Elizabethtown
3.4 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 (9 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.7%
5.7% of Elizabethtown’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 Elizabethtown’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 86 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Elizabethtown Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Elizabethtown Public Library serves 31,985 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
202K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
20,807 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 4 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
Elizabethtown Public Library, 10 South Market Street, Elizabethtown.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Elizabethtown Public Library branch.
New in Elizabethtown? 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 $2.86 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Elizabethtown cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $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 8,868 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elizabethtown | Elizabethtown Public Library | — | 45 | C− |
| Mount Joy Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| West Donegal 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.
- System-wide. Elizabethtown Public Library serves 31,985 people in and around Elizabethtown, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Elizabethtown.
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 Elizabethtown
Does Elizabethtown have a public library?
Yes. Elizabethtown Public Library, 10 South Market Street, serves 31,985 people in and around Elizabethtown (the survey’s count) and is open about 45 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Elizabethtown 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 Elizabethtown’s library?
It logged 4.6 visits and lent 6.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Elizabethtown’s civic life grade?
C− Elizabethtown is ahead of 24% of U.S. towns on civic life, #734 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 Elizabethtown.
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.