Photo: Lee Paxton · CC BY-SA 4.0Plum’s library runs 21 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Plum Borough Community Library serves Plum’s 27,144 residents. Last year it lent 159K books, movies and e-books and logged 34K visits.
What stands out about Plum’s library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Plum’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Plum is ahead of 15% of U.S. towns, #902 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. All three inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Plum’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Plum Borough Community Library spends $13 per resident, against a typical $40 for libraries its size, and its 2024 visits are an estimate from one typical week (the survey’s method for libraries that don’t count every visit).
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($74K–$123K) 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 →
96 community nonprofits are registered in Plum
3.6 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (22 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.
5.2%
5.2% of Plum’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 Plum’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Plum Borough Community Library serves 27,144 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 60 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
159K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 34K books and other items on the shelves went out about 3.1 times last year, on average.
52,963 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, 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 Plum last year.
Find it
Plum Borough Community Library, 445 Center-New Texas Road, Pittsburgh.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Plum? 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 $7.18 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Plum cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $341K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $341K 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 8,899 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Penn Hills | Penn Hills Library fine-free | 7.1 | 51 | — too few inputs |
| Plum | Plum Borough Community Library fine-free | 5.9 | 51 | D |
| Monroeville | Monroeville Public Library fine-free | — | 60 | B |
| Lower Burrell | Lower Burrell Branch Library fine-free | — | 31 | C− |
| Oakmont | Oakmont Carnegie Library fine-free | — | 45 | B+ |
| Murrysville | Murrysville Community Library fine-free | — | 49 | B− |
| Springdale | Springdale Free Public Library | — | 44 | B |
| Upper Burrell Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Harmar Township | None of its own | — | — | B |
| Cheswick | None of its own | — | — | C |
| Springdale Township | None of its own | — | — | — too few inputs |
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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Plum Borough Community Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Plum
Does Plum have a public library?
Yes. Plum Borough Community Library, 445 Center-New Texas Road, serves Plum’s 27,144 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 51 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Plum Borough Community 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 Plum’s library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 5.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Plum’s civic life grade?
D Plum is ahead of 15% of U.S. towns on civic life, #902 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 Plum.
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.