Photo: Marshallstack380 · CC BY-SA 3.0Fairview Township’s library runs 38 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Marian Sutherland Kirby Library serves 18,510 people in and around Fairview Township. Last year it lent 55K books, movies and e-books and logged 77K visits.
What Fairview Township’s library is like
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
72% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 16%. What your card is worth ↓
Programs are almost all for children
88% of the 702 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 7.9 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 59% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is lower than at 54% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf
Only 7% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 91% 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; Marian Sutherland Kirby Library serves 18,510 people in and around Fairview Township, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Fairview Township’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Fairview Township is ahead of 55% of U.S. towns, #283 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Fairview Township is graded on two of the three inputs. Fairview 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 →
21 community nonprofits are registered in Fairview Township
4.5 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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.2%
7.2% of Fairview 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 Fairview Township’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Marian Sutherland Kirby Library serves 18,510 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 25 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Marian Sutherland Kirby Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
55K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
3,632 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 12 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
Marian Sutherland Kirby Library, 35 Kirby Avenue, Mountaintop.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Marian Sutherland Kirby Library branch.
New in Fairview 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 $2.89 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Fairview Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $332K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $960K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $332K 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 10,260 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairview Township | Marian Sutherland Kirby Library | — | 42 | B |
| Wright Township | None of its own | — | — | B− |
| Rice Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Dennison Township | None of its own | — | — | — graded with its twin city |
| Hanover Township | None of its own | — | — | D− |
| Bear Creek Township | None of its own | — | — | D− |
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. Marian Sutherland Kirby Library serves 18,510 people in and around Fairview Township, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Fairview 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 Fairview Township
Does Fairview Township have a public library?
Yes. Marian Sutherland Kirby Library, 35 Kirby Avenue, serves 18,510 people in and around Fairview Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 42 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Marian Sutherland Kirby 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 Fairview Township’s library?
It logged 4.1 visits and lent 3.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Fairview Township’s civic life grade?
B Fairview Township is ahead of 55% of U.S. towns on civic life, #283 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 Fairview 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.