Photo: User:Smallbones on English Wikipedia. · Public domainMarple Township’s library lends 10 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Marple Public Library serves Marple Township’s 24,214 residents. Last year it lent 287K books, movies and e-books and logged 100K visits.
The short version on Marple Township’s library
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 58% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 93% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 27 items per child in Marple Township last year. Kids & programs ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
32% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 61%. What your card is worth ↓
Marple Township is a town of borrowers
Marple Public Library lends 10 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, more than 91% of similar-size libraries. Each item on the shelves went out about 2.9 times last year. What people borrow ↓
Marple Township out-borrows every town next door
At 11.8 loans per resident, Marple Township leads the seven towns here. The closest is Broomall, at 11.8. Libraries next door ↓
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 Marple Township’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Marple Township is ahead of 44% of U.S. towns, #426 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Library visits hold the grade up; Marple Township’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 →
75 community nonprofits are registered in Marple Township
3.1 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 (21 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 4 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.1%
7.1% of Marple 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 Marple Township’s residents live; 2022.
About 4 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 Marple Township last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Marple Public Library serves 24,214 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 94 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
287K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 86K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.9 times last year, on average.
37,581 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Marple Public Library, Sproul & Springfield Rds, Broomall.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Marple 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 $4.81 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Marple Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $909K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $909K 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 6,683 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Marple Township borrows the most per resident of the 7 towns here. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marple Township | Marple Public Library | 11.8 | 59 | C+ |
| Broomall | Marple Public Library | 11.8 | 59 | — graded as part of its town |
| Newtown Township | Newtown Public Library fine-free | 11.6 | 50 | B |
| Radnor Township | Memorial Library of Radnor Township | 10.0 | 69 | B+ |
| Nether Providence Township | Helen Kate Furness Free Library | 8.0 | 48 | B |
| Springfield Township | Springfield Township Library fine-free | 7.1 | 56 | B |
| Haverford Township | Haverford Township Free Library | 5.5 | 56 | B− |
| Upper Providence Township | None of its own | — | — | A− |
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.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Marple Township
Does Marple Township have a public library?
Yes. Marple Public Library, Sproul & Springfield Rds, serves Marple Township’s 24,214 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 59 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Marple 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 Marple Township’s library?
It logged 4.1 visits and lent 11.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Marple Township’s civic life grade?
C+ Marple Township is ahead of 44% of U.S. towns on civic life, #426 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 Marple 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.