Photo: Tc65306n · CC BY-SA 4.0Pottsville’s library logs 0.5 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Pottsville Free Public Library serves 60,113 people in and around Pottsville. Last year it lent 34K books, movies and e-books and logged 28K visits.
Pottsville’s library, in brief
Pottsville Free Public Library is used less than most libraries its size
Pottsville Free Public Library records 0.5 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people. Borrowing is 0.5 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7. It also spends less than most: $15 per resident, against a typical $40. How it compares ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Pottsville Free Public Library offered 295 programs last year, 4.9 per 1,000 residents against a typical 14. Kids & programs ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
32% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 11%. What your card is worth ↓
Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf
Only 4% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 98% 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; Pottsville Free Public Library serves 60,113 people in and around Pottsville, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Pottsville’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Pottsville is ahead of 57% of U.S. towns, #269 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Pottsville is graded on two of the three inputs. Pottsville’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups 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 →
116 community nonprofits are registered in Pottsville
8.7 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 (15 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.2%
5.2% of Pottsville’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 Pottsville’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Pottsville Free Public Library serves 60,113 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 11 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Pottsville Free Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
34K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
1,336 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 1 kids’ program 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
Pottsville Free Public Library, 215 W Market St., Pottsville.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Pottsville Free Public Library branch.
New in Pottsville? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Pottsville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $922K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $579K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $922K 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 3,861 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pottsville | Pottsville Free Public Library | — | 59 | B |
| Branch Township | None of its own | — | — | D− |
| North Manheim Township | None of its own | — | — | D |
| Norwegian Township | None of its own | — | — | D− |
| Palo Alto | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Mechanicsville | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Mount Carbon | 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. Pottsville Free Public Library serves 60,113 people in and around Pottsville, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Pottsville.
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 Pottsville
Does Pottsville have a public library?
Yes. Pottsville Free Public Library, 215 W Market St., serves 60,113 people in and around Pottsville (the survey’s count) and is open about 59 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Pottsville Free 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 Pottsville’s library?
It logged 0.5 visits and lent 0.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Pottsville’s civic life grade?
B Pottsville is ahead of 57% of U.S. towns on civic life, #269 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 Pottsville.
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.