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Samuel Warden HouseSamuel Warden House · Photo: Canadian2006 · CC BY-SA 3.0
Mount Pleasant Free Public Library Association Inc

Mount Pleasant’s library lends 1.5 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size

Mount Pleasant Free Public Library Association Inc serves 14,364 people in and around Mount Pleasant. Last year it lent 28K books, movies and e-books and logged 26K visits.

120 S Church St., Mount Pleasant 15666 · about 45 hours a week
B+Civic lifeAhead of 66% of U.S. towns · #174 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Nonprofits and volunteering.
Borrowed a year
28K
2 per resident
Visits a year
26K
1.8 per resident · Below typical (3.1)
Programs & events
390
about 8 a week · 3,238 attended
Cardholders
14%
2,022 cards
Open
45 hrs
a week at this branch
In brief

What Mount Pleasant’s library is like

Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes

74% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 5%. What your card is worth ↓

Few residents carry a card

Only 14% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 40% for its size. How it compares ↓

Runs on less money than most

Mount Pleasant Free Public Library Association Inc spends $13 per resident, less than 91% of similar-size libraries (typical: $43). What your card is worth ↓

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; Mount Pleasant Free Public Library Association Inc serves 14,364 people in and around Mount Pleasant, and its numbers cover all of them.

Civic life grade

What’s behind Mount Pleasant’s civic life grade

On community nonprofits and volunteering, Mount Pleasant is ahead of 66% of U.S. towns, #174 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Mount Pleasant is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups ranks highest.

B+
Civic lifeA character grade: shown, never part of Mount Pleasant’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (17,556)Ahead of 66%
FewerMore
Pennsylvania towns we grade (1,029)Ahead of 83%
U.S. towns with similar incomes, $39K–$65K (5,490)Ahead of 63%

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.

How sure. Graded on two inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. Mount Pleasant is small (4,108 residents), so a few dozen organizations or visits move its per-resident figures; the volunteering share is a 2022 estimate from Facebook users aged 25–44.

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 →

Places to belong

17 community nonprofits are registered in Mount Pleasant

4.1 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.

Community nonprofits, by kind

Arts & culture20.38 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.24
Youth, sports & recreation30.71 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.52
Civic groups, clubs & veterans51.29 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.74
Human services20.52 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.59
Education20.38 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.43
Health00.12 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.16
Environment & animals10.33 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.17
Other10.33 per 1,000 · U.S. towns 0.47

Counted from the IRS list of tax-exempt organizations by mailing address (fractions where a ZIP code spans towns). Congregations are counted apart (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.

Volunteering

8.7%

8.7% of Mount Pleasant’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 Mount Pleasant’s residents live; 2022.

How it compares

Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures

Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.

Visits per resident 1.8 visits · typical 3.1Lower than 74%
Borrowing per resident 1.5 print items · typical 3.9Lower than 83%
Digital borrowing 0.4 e-items · typical 1.1Lower than 79%
Kids’ borrowing 0.6 kids’ items · typical 1.8Lower than 80%
Program attendance 0.2 attendees · typical 0.4Lower than 77%
Programs offered 27.2 per 1,000 residents · typical 24Higher than 57%
Cardholders 14% of residents · typical 40%Bottom 10%
Spending $13 per resident · typical $43Bottom 10%
Fewer per residentMore per resident
Size group

Mount Pleasant Free Public Library Association Inc serves 14,364 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.

A year at the library

Every hour the doors are open, about 12 items go out

Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Mount Pleasant Free Public Library Association Inc system. The library’s own count.

26K
visits
1.8 per resident
28K
loans, print + digital
2 per resident
390
programs & events
3,238 attended
2,022
library cards
14% of people served
Every open hour12items borrowed
Every week62people at a program
Every day3Wi-Fi sessions
4 staff (full-time equivalent)9 public computers
What people borrow

Mostly books and media off the shelf

28K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.

28Kloans
Books & media (adults) 46%Kids’ books & media 32%E-books, audio & streaming 22%
From your couch

6,156 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.

Kids & programs

About 2 kids’ programs a week

Story times, clubs, classes and events, across the whole system, by who they’re for.

Schools in Mount Pleasant →

Programs last year by age group

Ages 0–5101
Ages 6–1118
Teens66
Adults123
All ages82
Little ones
1.9

story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.

8,951
kids’ books & media borrowed
3,238
people at programs
390
programs
The building

Find it

Mount Pleasant Free Public Library Association Inc, 120 S Church St., Mount Pleasant.

45
hours open a week
5,112
square feet
With a card

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 Mount Pleasant Free Public Library Association Inc branch.

New in Mount Pleasant? The Handbook →

Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.

What your card is worth

For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.38 worth

Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Mount Pleasant cardholder borrows.

In a month I’d use…
Books$17 each
1
Kids’ books$12 each
0
E-books & audio$15 each
0
Movies & music$4 each
0
Programs & classes$10 a program
0
Computer & Wi-Fi$3 a session
0
Your card saves you about
$204
a year at retail prices · $17 a month

Who pays for it
$13 per resident a year

Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $191K.

Local taxes 5%State 21%Gifts & other 74%

Last year the library lent and hosted about $455K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $191K 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 2,022 cardholders ÷ 12.

Next door

Libraries next door

Who has a library of their own, and how much each town borrows. Tap a town to see its library.

12+ loans per resident8–124–8Under 4No library / shared system
TownLibraryLoans per residentHoursCivic life
Mount PleasantMount Pleasant Free Public Library Association Inc fine-free—45B+
Mount Pleasant TownshipNone of its own——A−
East Huntingdon TownshipNone 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).

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.

  • System-wide. Mount Pleasant Free Public Library Association Inc serves 14,364 people in and around Mount Pleasant, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Mount Pleasant.

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 Mount Pleasant

Does Mount Pleasant have a public library?

Yes. Mount Pleasant Free Public Library Association Inc, 120 S Church St., serves 14,364 people in and around Mount Pleasant (the survey’s count) and is open about 45 hours a week, averaged over the year.

Is Mount Pleasant Free Public Library Association Inc 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 Mount Pleasant’s library?

It logged 1.8 visits and lent 2.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.

What is Mount Pleasant’s civic life grade?

B+ Mount Pleasant is ahead of 66% of U.S. towns on civic life, #174 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 Mount Pleasant.

Town Square →
Start a conversation

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.