Photo: Dough4872 · Public domainKutztown’s library lends 5.1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Kutztown Community Library serves 16,870 people in and around Kutztown. Last year it lent 101K books, movies and e-books and logged 46K visits.
What stands out about Kutztown Community Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Kutztown’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Kutztown is ahead of 79% of U.S. towns, #77 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Kutztown is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Kutztown’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
15 community nonprofits are registered in Kutztown
3.7 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
12.3%
12.3% of Kutztown’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 Kutztown’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Kutztown Community Library serves 16,870 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 41 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Kutztown Community Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
101K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
14,487 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
Kutztown Community Library, 70 Bieber Alley, Kutztown.
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 Kutztown Community Library branch.
New in Kutztown? 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 $5.62 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Kutztown cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $278K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $278K 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 4,444 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kutztown | Kutztown Community Library fine-free | — | 47 | A− |
| Kutztown University | 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. Kutztown Community Library serves 16,870 people in and around Kutztown, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Kutztown.
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 Kutztown
Does Kutztown have a public library?
Yes. Kutztown Community Library, 70 Bieber Alley, serves 16,870 people in and around Kutztown (the survey’s count) and is open about 47 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Kutztown 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 Kutztown’s library?
It logged 2.7 visits and lent 6.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Kutztown’s civic life grade?
A− Kutztown is ahead of 79% of U.S. towns on civic life, #77 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 Kutztown.
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.