Photo: Shuvaev · CC BY-SA 4.0Shillington’s library runs 10 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 14 for libraries its size
Mifflin Community Library serves 27,022 people in and around Shillington. Last year it lent 120K books, movies and e-books and logged 62K visits.
The short version on Shillington’s library
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
29% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 51%. What your card is worth ↓
Runs on less money than most
Mifflin Community Library spends $11 per resident, less than 94% of similar-size libraries (typical: $40). 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; Mifflin Community Library serves 27,022 people in and around Shillington, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Shillington’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Shillington is ahead of 17% of U.S. towns, #866 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Shillington is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Shillington’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Mifflin Community Library spends $11 per resident, against a typical $40 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($60K–$100K) 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 →
15 community nonprofits are registered in Shillington
2.8 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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.8%
5.8% of Shillington’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 Shillington’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Mifflin Community Library serves 27,022 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 51 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Mifflin Community Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
120K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
17,721 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
Mifflin Community Library, 6 Philadelphia Ave., Shillington.
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 Mifflin Community Library branch.
New in Shillington? 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 $6.36 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Shillington cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $299K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.9M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $299K 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 6,020 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wyomissing | Wyomissing Public Library fine-free | 5.4 | 47 | B+ |
| Shillington | Mifflin Community Library fine-free | — | 45 | C− |
| Cumru Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Pennwyn | 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. Mifflin Community Library serves 27,022 people in and around Shillington, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Shillington.
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 Shillington
Does Shillington have a public library?
Yes. Mifflin Community Library, 6 Philadelphia Ave., serves 27,022 people in and around Shillington (the survey’s count) and is open about 45 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Mifflin 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 Shillington’s library?
It logged 2.3 visits and lent 4.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Shillington’s civic life grade?
C− Shillington is ahead of 17% of U.S. towns on civic life, #866 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 Shillington.
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.