Fort Ligonier Site · Photo: The original uploader was Mind meal at English Wikipedia. · CC BY-SA 2.0Ligonier’s library logs 4.5 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Ligonier Valley Library serves 12,092 people in and around Ligonier. Last year it lent 73K books, movies and e-books and logged 54K visits.
What stands out about Ligonier Valley Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Ligonier’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Ligonier is among the top 1% of U.S. towns. Ligonier is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs put Ligonier near the top nationally; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups ranks highest.
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 →
14 community nonprofits are registered in Ligonier
8.8 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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
15.1%
15.1% of Ligonier’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 Ligonier’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.
Ligonier Valley Library serves 12,092 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 29 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Ligonier Valley Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
73K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
12,406 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
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.
Find it
Ligonier Valley Library, 120 West Main St., Ligonier.
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 Ligonier Valley Library branch.
New in Ligonier? 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 $1.83 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Ligonier cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $619K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $619K 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 3,273 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Ligonier Valley Library serves 12,092 people in and around Ligonier, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Ligonier.
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 Ligonier
Does Ligonier have a public library?
Yes. Ligonier Valley Library, 120 West Main St., serves 12,092 people in and around Ligonier (the survey’s count) and is open about 48 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Ligonier Valley 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 Ligonier’s library?
It logged 4.5 visits and lent 6.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Ligonier’s civic life grade?
A+ Ligonier is among the top 1% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Ligonier.
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.