Photo: Smallbones · Public domainMalvern’s library logs 1.3 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Malvern Public Library serves 41,383 people in and around Malvern. Last year it lent 85K books, movies and e-books and logged 52K visits.
What Malvern’s library is like
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, Malvern Public Library sits below the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on six. How it compares ↓
Most programs are for young children
80% of the 361 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 4.2 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
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 43%. What your card is worth ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 19% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 39% for its size. How it compares ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 63% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is lower than at 69% of similar-size libraries, so the high share mostly reflects light borrowing by adults. 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; Malvern Public Library serves 41,383 people in and around Malvern, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Malvern’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Malvern is ahead of 59% of U.S. towns, #247 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Malvern is graded on two of the three inputs. Malvern’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 →
16 community nonprofits are registered in Malvern
4.8 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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.
7.2%
7.2% of Malvern’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 Malvern’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Malvern Public Library serves 41,383 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 33 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Malvern Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
85K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
20,058 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 6 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
Malvern Public Library, 1 E First Avenue, Suite 2, Malvern.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Malvern Public Library branch.
New in Malvern? 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 $3.21 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Malvern cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $402K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $402K 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 7,875 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Malvern | Malvern Public Library | — | 54 | B |
| Paoli | Paoli Library | — | 44 | — graded as part of its town |
| Willistown Township | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
| East Whiteland Township | None of its own | — | — | B |
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. Malvern Public Library serves 41,383 people in and around Malvern, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Malvern.
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 Malvern
Does Malvern have a public library?
Yes. Malvern Public Library, 1 E First Avenue, Suite 2, serves 41,383 people in and around Malvern (the survey’s count) and is open about 54 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Malvern Public 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 Malvern’s library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 2.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Malvern’s civic life grade?
B Malvern is ahead of 59% of U.S. towns on civic life, #247 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 Malvern.
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.