Photo: PattiParker · CC BY-SA 3.0South Whitehall Township’s library logs 1.7 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Parkland Community Library serves 63,112 people in and around South Whitehall Township. Last year it lent 289K books, movies and e-books and logged 105K visits.
What stands out about Parkland Community Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind South Whitehall Township’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, South Whitehall Township is ahead of 14% of U.S. towns, #914 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. South Whitehall Township is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; South Whitehall Township’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Parkland Community Library spends $17 per resident, against a typical $40 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($77K–$129K) 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 →
60 community nonprofits are registered in South Whitehall Township
2.8 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 (13 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 3 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.3%
5.3% of South Whitehall 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 South Whitehall Township’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.
Parkland Community Library serves 63,112 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 90 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Parkland Community Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
289K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
66,232 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 6 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
Parkland Community Library, 4422 Walbert Avenue, Allentown.
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 Parkland Community Library branch.
New in South Whitehall 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 $4.07 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average South Whitehall Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.1M 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 15,179 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lower Macungie Township | Lower Macungie Library fine-free | 6.5 | 57 | C− |
| Whitehall Township | Whitehall Township Public Library fine-free | 3.1 | 58 | D |
| South Whitehall Township | Parkland Community Library fine-free | — | 62 | D |
| Allentown | Allentown Public Library | — | 61 | D |
| Dorneyville | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Cetronia | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| Wescosville | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
| North Whitehall Township | None of its own | — | — | C |
| Upper Macungie Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Salisbury Township | None of its own | — | — | D− |
| Fullerton | None of its own | — | — | — graded as part of its town |
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. Parkland Community Library serves 63,112 people in and around South Whitehall Township, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just South Whitehall 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 South Whitehall Township
Does South Whitehall Township have a public library?
Yes. Parkland Community Library, 4422 Walbert Avenue, serves 63,112 people in and around South Whitehall Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 62 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Parkland 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 South Whitehall Township’s library?
It logged 1.7 visits and lent 4.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is South Whitehall Township’s civic life grade?
D South Whitehall Township is ahead of 14% of U.S. towns on civic life, #914 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 South Whitehall 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.