Photo: Peetlesnumber1 · CC BY-SA 3.0Elkins Park’s library lends 7.1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Cheltenham Township Library System serves 37,452 people in and around Elkins Park. Last year it lent 334K books, movies and e-books and logged 150K visits.
What stands out about Elkins Park’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Elkins Park’s civic life grade
Elkins 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 →
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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Cheltenham Township Library System serves 37,452 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 50 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
334K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 134K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2 times last year, on average.
69,032 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Elkins Park Free Library, 563 East Church Road, Elkins Park.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Elkins 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 $2.29 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Elkins Park cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.2M 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 13,756 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Elkins Park borrows the most per resident of the 3 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elkins Park | Elkins Park Free Library fine-free | 8.9 | 55 | — graded as part of its town |
| Wyncote | Glenside Free Library fine-free | 8.9 | 52 | — graded as part of its town |
| Cheltenham Township | Elkins Park Free Library fine-free | 8.9 | 55 | B+ |
| Abington Township | Abington Township Public Library fine-free | — | 61 | B+ |
| Melrose Park | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| McKinley | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
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 Elkins Park
Does Elkins Park have a public library?
Yes. Cheltenham Township Library System, 563 East Church Road, serves 37,452 people in and around Elkins Park (the survey’s count) and is open about 55 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Cheltenham Township 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 Elkins Park’s library?
It logged 4.0 visits and lent 8.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Elkins Park’s civic life grade?
Elkins 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 Elkins 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.