Photo: Smallbones · Public domainStrasburg’s library lends 18 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Strasburg-Heisler Library serves 7,574 people in and around Strasburg. Last year it lent 151K books, movies and e-books and logged 34K visits.
What Strasburg’s library is like
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 75% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 99% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
Programs are almost all for children
93% of the 269 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 4.1 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
A system of heavy borrowers
Strasburg-Heisler Library lends 18 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, more than 99% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
41% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 33%. What your card is worth ↓
Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf
Only 8% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 32% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
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; Strasburg-Heisler Library serves 7,574 people in and around Strasburg, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Strasburg’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Strasburg is ahead of 30% of U.S. towns, #623 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Strasburg is graded on two of the three inputs. Strasburg’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 ($64K–$107K) 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 →
14 community nonprofits are registered in Strasburg
4.4 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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.1%
5.1% of Strasburg’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 Strasburg’s residents live; 2022.
About 5 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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Strasburg-Heisler Library serves 7,574 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 66 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Strasburg-Heisler Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
151K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
12,318 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Strasburg-Heisler Library, 143 Precision Ave, Strasburg.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Strasburg-Heisler Library branch.
New in Strasburg? 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 $8.98 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Strasburg cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $234K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $234K 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 3,740 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Strasburg-Heisler Library serves 7,574 people in and around Strasburg, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Strasburg.
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 Strasburg
Does Strasburg have a public library?
Yes. Strasburg-Heisler Library, 143 Precision Ave, serves 7,574 people in and around Strasburg (the survey’s count) and is open about 44 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Strasburg-Heisler 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 Strasburg’s library?
It logged 4.5 visits and lent 19.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Strasburg’s civic life grade?
C Strasburg is ahead of 30% of U.S. towns on civic life, #623 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 Strasburg.
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.