Mill Tract Farm · Photo: Cervin Robinson, Photographer · Public domainExeter Township’s library lends 8.2 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Exeter Community Library serves 27,358 people in and around Exeter Township. Last year it lent 257K books, movies and e-books and logged 124K visits.
The short version on Exeter Township’s library
Busy on a lean budget
Exeter Community Library spends $19 per resident, less than 83% of similar-size libraries (typical: $40). It’s still busier than 83% of them. What your card is worth ↓
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 57% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 89% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
28% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 63%. What your card is worth ↓
Programs lean toward adults
66% of the 328 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 108 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; Exeter Community Library serves 27,358 people in and around Exeter Township, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Exeter Township’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Exeter Township is ahead of 37% of U.S. towns, #531 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Library visits hold the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($75K–$125K) 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 →
72 community nonprofits are registered in Exeter Township
2.8 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 (14 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.3%
6.3% of Exeter 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 Exeter Township’s residents live; 2022.
About 2 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.
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.
Exeter Community Library serves 27,358 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 99 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Exeter Community Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
257K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
32,909 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Exeter Community Library, 4569 Prestwick Drive, Reading.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Exeter Community Library branch.
New in Exeter 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 $7.39 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Exeter Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $510K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3.8M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $510K 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 11,576 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oley Township | Oley Valley Community Library | 2.3 | 37 | C+ |
| Exeter Township | Exeter Community Library fine-free | — | 50 | C+ |
| Birdsboro | Boone Area Library fine-free | — | 44 | B− |
| Robeson Township | None of its own | — | — | B |
| Amity Township | None of its own | — | — | C |
| St. Lawrence | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Gibraltar | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Lower Alsace Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Alsace Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Cumru Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Reiffton | 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.
- System-wide. Exeter Community Library serves 27,358 people in and around Exeter Township, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Exeter Township.
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 Exeter Township
Does Exeter Township have a public library?
Yes. Exeter Community Library, 4569 Prestwick Drive, serves 27,358 people in and around Exeter Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Exeter Community 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 Exeter Township’s library?
It logged 4.5 visits and lent 9.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Exeter Township’s civic life grade?
C+ Exeter Township is ahead of 37% of U.S. towns on civic life, #531 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 Exeter 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.