Photo: Mr. Matté (if there is an issue with this image, contact me using this image's Commons talk page, my Commons user talk page, or my English Wikipedia user talk page; I'll know about it a lot faster) · CC BY-SA 4.0Longswamp Township’s library logs 2.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Brandywine Community Library serves 12,632 people in and around Longswamp Township. Last year it lent 66K books, movies and e-books and logged 31K visits.
Longswamp Township’s library, in brief
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 91% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 83% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
34% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 37%. What your card is worth ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 18% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 40% for its size. How it compares ↓
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; Brandywine Community Library serves 12,632 people in and around Longswamp Township, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Longswamp Township’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Longswamp Township is ahead of 32% of U.S. towns, #596 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Longswamp Township is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($61K–$102K) 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 →
17 community nonprofits are registered in Longswamp Township
3.0 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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.3%
7.3% of Longswamp 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 Longswamp Township’s residents live; 2022.
About 3 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 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Brandywine Community Library serves 12,632 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 30 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Brandywine Community Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
66K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
11,164 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Brandywine Community Library, 60 Tower Drive, Topton.
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 Brandywine Community Library branch.
New in Longswamp 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 $4.49 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Longswamp Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $202K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $907K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $202K 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 2,277 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Longswamp Township | Brandywine Community Library fine-free | — | 42 | C |
| Topton | None of its own | — | — | A |
| Maxatawny Township | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
| Rockland Township | None of its own | — | — | B− |
| Upper Macungie Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Breinigsville | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| District Township | None of its own | — | — | C |
| Hereford 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.
- System-wide. Brandywine Community Library serves 12,632 people in and around Longswamp Township, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Longswamp 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 Longswamp Township
Does Longswamp Township have a public library?
Yes. Brandywine Community Library, 60 Tower Drive, serves 12,632 people in and around Longswamp Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 42 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Brandywine 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 Longswamp Township’s library?
It logged 2.4 visits and lent 5.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Longswamp Township’s civic life grade?
C Longswamp Township is ahead of 32% of U.S. towns on civic life, #596 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 Longswamp 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.