Graeme Park · Photo: en:User:MikeParker (Michael H. Parker), [1] · CC BY 3.0Horsham Township’s library lends 10 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Horsham Township Library serves Horsham Township’s 26,564 residents. Last year it lent 312K books, movies and e-books and logged 121K visits.
The short version on Horsham Township’s library
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 56% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 92% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 25 items per child in Horsham Township last year. Kids & programs ↓
Horsham Township is a town of borrowers
Horsham Township Library lends 10 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, more than 90% of similar-size libraries. Each item on the shelves went out about 2.8 times last year. 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.
What’s behind Horsham Township’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Horsham Township is ahead of 52% of U.S. towns, #324 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Library visits hold 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 →
102 community nonprofits are registered in Horsham Township
3.8 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 (18 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 7 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.8%
6.8% of Horsham 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 Horsham Township’s residents live; 2022.
About 3 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.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Horsham Township last year.
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.
Horsham Township Library serves 26,564 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 110 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
312K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 94K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.8 times last year, on average.
46,838 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Horsham Township Library, 435 Babylon Road, Horsham.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Horsham 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 $3.38 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Horsham Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.4M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.4M 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 9,575 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Horsham Township ranks 2nd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upper Dublin Township | Upper Dublin Public Library fine-free | 15.7 | 63 | A− |
| Horsham Township | Horsham Township Library | 11.7 | 55 | B− |
| Upper Moreland Township | Upper Moreland Free Public Library fine-free | 7.8 | 54 | C− |
| Montgomery Township | None of its own | — | — | C |
| Warrington 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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Horsham Township Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Horsham Township
Does Horsham Township have a public library?
Yes. Horsham Township Library, 435 Babylon Road, serves Horsham Township’s 26,564 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 55 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Horsham Township 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 Horsham Township’s library?
It logged 4.5 visits and lent 11.7 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Horsham Township’s civic life grade?
B− Horsham Township is ahead of 52% of U.S. towns on civic life, #324 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 Horsham 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.