Photo: Lucius Kwok · CC BY 2.5Radnor Township’s library logs 4.8 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Memorial Library of Radnor Township serves Radnor Township’s 33,228 residents. Last year it lent 331K books, movies and e-books and logged 159K visits.
The short version on Radnor Township’s library
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 56% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 87% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 23 items per child in Radnor Township last year. Kids & programs ↓
Open about 69 hours a week
Memorial Library of Radnor Township is open about 69 hours a week, averaged over the year. Every hour the doors are open, about 92 items go out. The building ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
25% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 67%. What your card is worth ↓
A place to get online
Memorial Library of Radnor Township logs about 1,585 Wi-Fi sessions a day and has 10 public computers. That’s 17 sessions per resident a year. A year at the library ↓
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.
What’s behind Radnor Township’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Radnor Township is ahead of 72% of U.S. towns, #119 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Radnor Township’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 →
194 community nonprofits are registered in Radnor Township
5.8 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: education.
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 (24 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 6 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.3%
7.3% of Radnor Township’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 Radnor Township’s residents live; 2022.
About 7 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 Radnor Township last year.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Memorial Library of Radnor Township serves 33,228 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 92 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
331K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 119K books and other items on the shelves went out about 2.2 times last year, on average.
74,087 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Memorial Library of Radnor Township, 114 West Wayne Ave, Wayne.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Radnor Township? 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 $4.26 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Radnor Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.6M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.6M 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 11,265 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Radnor Township ranks 4th of 7 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lower Merion Township | Ludington Public Library | 18.2 | 66 | A |
| Marple Township | Marple Public Library | 11.8 | 59 | C+ |
| Newtown Township | Newtown Public Library fine-free | 11.6 | 50 | B |
| Radnor Township | Memorial Library of Radnor Township | 10.0 | 69 | B+ |
| Wayne | Memorial Library of Radnor Township | 10.0 | 69 | — graded as part of its town |
| Upper Merion Township | Upper Merion Township Library fine-free | 7.3 | 47 | C+ |
| Haverford Township | Haverford Township Free Library | 5.5 | 56 | B− |
| Tredyffrin Township | Tredyffrin Public Library | — | 53 | B+ |
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.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Radnor Township
Does Radnor Township have a public library?
Yes. Memorial Library of Radnor Township, 114 West Wayne Ave, serves Radnor Township’s 33,228 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 69 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Memorial Library of Radnor Township 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 Radnor Township’s library?
It logged 4.8 visits and lent 10.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Radnor Township’s civic life grade?
B+ Radnor Township is ahead of 72% of U.S. towns on civic life, #119 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 Radnor Township.
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.