Isaac Meier Homestead · Photo: JoeRed · CC BY-SA 3.0Myerstown’s library runs 20 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Myerstown Community Library serves 16,537 people in and around Myerstown. Last year it lent 83K books, movies and e-books and logged 43K visits.
Myerstown’s library, in brief
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
59% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 26%. What your card is worth ↓
Runs on less money than most
Myerstown Community Library spends $12 per resident, less than 94% of similar-size libraries (typical: $43). 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 82% 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; Myerstown Community Library serves 16,537 people in and around Myerstown, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Myerstown’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Myerstown is ahead of 34% of U.S. towns, #577 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Myerstown is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Myerstown’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($44K–$74K) 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 →
11 community nonprofits are registered in Myerstown
3.5 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.7%
6.7% of Myerstown’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 Myerstown’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Myerstown Community Library serves 16,537 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 38 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Myerstown Community Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
83K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
6,084 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
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.
Find it
Myerstown Community Library, 199 North College St., Myerstown.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Myerstown Community Library branch.
New in Myerstown? 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 $6.53 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Myerstown cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $191K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.2M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $191K 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 11,431 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Myerstown | Myerstown Community Library | — | 42 | C |
| West Myerstown | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
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. Myerstown Community Library serves 16,537 people in and around Myerstown, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Myerstown.
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 Myerstown
Does Myerstown have a public library?
Yes. Myerstown Community Library, 199 North College St., serves 16,537 people in and around Myerstown (the survey’s count) and is open about 42 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Myerstown Community 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 Myerstown’s library?
It logged 2.6 visits and lent 5.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Myerstown’s civic life grade?
C Myerstown is ahead of 34% of U.S. towns on civic life, #577 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 Myerstown.
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.