Roaring Spring Historic District · Photo: Andrew Bossi · CC BY-SA 2.5Roaring Spring’s library logs 8.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Roaring Spring Community Library serves 6,181 people in and around Roaring Spring. Last year it lent 7,415 books, movies and e-books and logged 52K visits.
What Roaring Spring’s library is like
More of a place to be than a place to borrow
Visits per resident beat 91% of similar-size libraries, while borrowing beats only 10%. A year at the library ↓
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
62% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 14%. What your card is worth ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 14% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 42% for its size. How it compares ↓
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; Roaring Spring Community Library serves 6,181 people in and around Roaring Spring, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Roaring Spring’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Roaring Spring is ahead of 33% of U.S. towns. Roaring Spring is graded on two of the three inputs. Roaring Spring’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($47K–$78K) 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 →
9 community nonprofits are registered in Roaring Spring
3.8 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: civic groups, clubs & veterans.
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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.2%
6.2% of Roaring Spring’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 Roaring Spring’s residents live; 2022.
Every hour the doors are open, about 3 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Roaring Spring Community Library system. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Roaring Spring Community Library serves 6,181 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
7,415 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
1,164 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
Roaring Spring Community Library, 320 East Main St., Roaring Spring.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Roaring Spring Community Library branch.
New in Roaring Spring? 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 $1.18 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Roaring Spring cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $116K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $137K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $116K 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 845 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Roaring Spring Community Library serves 6,181 people in and around Roaring Spring, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Roaring Spring.
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 Roaring Spring
Does Roaring Spring have a public library?
Yes. Roaring Spring Community Library, 320 East Main St., serves 6,181 people in and around Roaring Spring (the survey’s count) and is open about 46 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Roaring Spring 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 Roaring Spring’s library?
It logged 8.3 visits and lent 1.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Roaring Spring’s civic life grade?
C Roaring Spring is ahead of 33% of U.S. towns on civic life. 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 Roaring Spring.
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.