Photo: Doug Kerr · CC BY-SA 2.0Selinsgrove’s library logs 0.5 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Snyder County Libraries, Inc. serves 39,736 people in and around Selinsgrove. Last year it lent 62K books, movies and e-books and logged 21K visits.
What Selinsgrove’s library is like
Snyder County Libraries, Inc. is used less than most libraries its size
Snyder County Libraries, Inc. records 0.5 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people. Borrowing is 1.1 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7. It also spends less than most: $17 per resident, against a typical $40. How it compares ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
43% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 26%. What your card is worth ↓
Few programs for a library this size
Snyder County Libraries, Inc. offered 225 programs last year, 5.7 per 1,000 residents against a typical 14. Kids & programs ↓
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; Snyder County Libraries, Inc. serves 39,736 people in and around Selinsgrove, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Selinsgrove’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Selinsgrove is ahead of 45% of U.S. towns, #415 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Selinsgrove is graded on two of the three inputs. Selinsgrove’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 ($49K–$82K) 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 →
24 community nonprofits are registered in Selinsgrove
4.3 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 (7 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.6%
6.6% of Selinsgrove’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 Selinsgrove’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.
Snyder County Libraries, Inc. serves 39,736 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 10 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Snyder County Libraries, Inc. system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
62K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
18,066 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
Snyder County Libraries, Inc., 1 North High St., Selinsgrove.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Snyder County Libraries, Inc. branch.
New in Selinsgrove? 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 $1.46 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Selinsgrove cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $692K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $692K 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 8,121 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Selinsgrove | Snyder County Libraries, Inc. fine-free | — | 54 | C+ |
| Penn Township | None of its own | — | — | C+ |
| Lower Augusta Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
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. Snyder County Libraries, Inc. serves 39,736 people in and around Selinsgrove, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Selinsgrove.
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 Selinsgrove
Does Selinsgrove have a public library?
Yes. Snyder County Libraries, Inc., 1 North High St., serves 39,736 people in and around Selinsgrove (the survey’s count) and is open about 54 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Snyder County Libraries, Inc. 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 Selinsgrove’s library?
It logged 0.5 visits and lent 1.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Selinsgrove’s civic life grade?
C+ Selinsgrove is ahead of 45% of U.S. towns on civic life, #415 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 Selinsgrove.
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.