Photo: Nicholas · CC BY 2.0Meadville’s library logs 1.9 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Meadville Public Library serves 36,589 people in and around Meadville. Last year it lent 152K books, movies and e-books and logged 69K visits.
Meadville’s library, in brief
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 ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
27% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 35%. What your card is worth ↓
Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf
Only 7% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 86% of similar-size libraries. 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; Meadville Public Library serves 36,589 people in and around Meadville, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Meadville’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Meadville is ahead of 79% of U.S. towns, #77 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Meadville is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Meadville’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
86 community nonprofits are registered in Meadville
6.8 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 (11 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.8%
7.8% of Meadville’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 Meadville’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Meadville Public Library serves 36,589 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 56 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Meadville Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
152K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
10,917 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 5 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
Meadville Public Library, 848 North Main Street, Meadville.
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 Meadville Public Library branch.
New in Meadville? 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 $2.80 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Meadville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $886K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.5M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $886K 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 6,999 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meadville | Meadville Public Library fine-free | — | 53 | A− |
| West Mead Township | None of its own | — | — | A− |
| Vernon Township | None of its own | — | — | A− |
| Fredericksburg | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Kerrtown | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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. Meadville Public Library serves 36,589 people in and around Meadville, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Meadville.
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 Meadville
Does Meadville have a public library?
Yes. Meadville Public Library, 848 North Main Street, serves 36,589 people in and around Meadville (the survey’s count) and is open about 53 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Meadville Public 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 Meadville’s library?
It logged 1.9 visits and lent 4.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Meadville’s civic life grade?
A− Meadville 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 Meadville.
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.