Photo: Nyttend · Public domainSummerhill Township’s library lends 2.4 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Beaverdale Public Library serves Summerhill Township’s 2,303 residents. Last year it lent 9,260 books, movies and e-books and logged 5,388 visits.
What Summerhill Township’s library is like
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
54% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 21%. What your card is worth ↓
A small-town library
Beaverdale Public Library serves 2,303 residents with about one full-time staff, open about 44 hours a week. It’s compared only with libraries serving under 2,500 people, because per-person numbers always look big in a small town. A year at the library ↓
Programs lean toward adults
79% of the 132 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 22 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
40% of borrowing happens on a screen
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 40% of loans, more per resident than at 66% of similar-size libraries. Print still makes up 60%. 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Summerhill Township’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Summerhill Township is ahead of 47% of U.S. towns. Summerhill Township is graded on two of the three inputs. Summerhill Township’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
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 →
8 community nonprofits are registered in Summerhill Township
4.6 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.5%
6.5% of Summerhill 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 Summerhill Township’s residents live; 2022.
40% of borrowing is digital
9,260 loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 15K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
3,716 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Beaverdale Public Library serves 2,303 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 4 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
132 programs a year
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Summerhill Township last year.
Find it
Beaverdale Public Library, 506 Jefferson Ave, Beaverdale.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Summerhill 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 $2.24 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Summerhill Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $71K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $159K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $71K 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 1,259 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summerhill Township | Beaverdale Public Library fine-free | 4.0 | 44 | B− |
| Beaverdale | Beaverdale Public Library fine-free | 4.0 | 44 | — under 1,000 residents |
| Adams Township | None of its own | — | — | B |
| Portage Township | None of its own | — | — | B |
| Croyle Township | None of its own | — | — | D |
| Pavia Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Cambria Township | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
| Munster Township | 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.
- The library’s own count. Libraries report their own visits, loans and programs. A library that didn’t respond keeps its address and hours here, with no numbers.
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 Summerhill Township
Does Summerhill Township have a public library?
Yes. Beaverdale Public Library, 506 Jefferson Ave, serves Summerhill Township’s 2,303 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 44 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Beaverdale Public 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 Summerhill Township’s library?
It logged 2.3 visits and lent 4.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Summerhill Township’s civic life grade?
B− Summerhill Township is ahead of 47% 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 Summerhill 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.