Photo: Alyssa Gormish, UPJ student · CC BY-SA 3.0Richland Township’s library logs 1.7 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Highland Community Library serves 14,596 people in and around Richland Township. Last year it lent 42K books, movies and e-books and logged 25K visits.
Richland Township’s library, in brief
Below typical on every measure
Against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, Highland Community Library sits below the middle on all seven per-resident measures we compare, and in the bottom 30% on five. How it compares ↓
Pennsylvania pays a big share
32% of the budget comes from the state, and 54% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Runs on less money than most
Highland Community Library 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; Highland Community Library serves 14,596 people in and around Richland Township, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Richland Township’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Richland Township is ahead of 46% of U.S. towns, #399 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Richland Township’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull 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 →
59 community nonprofits are registered in Richland Township
4.9 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 (12 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
8.2%
8.2% of Richland 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 Richland Township’s residents live; 2022.
Below most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Highland Community Library serves 14,596 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 17 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Highland Community Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
42K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
3,716 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 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
Highland Community Library, 330 Schoolhouse Rd, Johnstown.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Highland Community Library branch.
New in Richland 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 $3.34 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Richland Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $193K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $645K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $193K 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 3,532 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richland Township | Highland Community Library | — | 48 | B− |
| Conemaugh Township | Somerset County Library Conemaugh Branch fine-free | — | 20 | A− |
| Paint Township | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
| Geistown | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
| Belmont | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Scalp Level | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Adams Township | None of its own | — | — | B |
| Stonycreek Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Oakland | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Conemaugh Township | None of its own | — | — | D |
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. Highland Community Library serves 14,596 people in and around Richland Township, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Richland Township.
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 Richland Township
Does Richland Township have a public library?
Yes. Highland Community Library, 330 Schoolhouse Rd, serves 14,596 people in and around Richland Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 48 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Highland 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 Richland Township’s library?
It logged 1.7 visits and lent 2.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Richland Township’s civic life grade?
B− Richland Township is ahead of 46% of U.S. towns on civic life, #399 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 Richland 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.