Photo: Adam Moss · CC BY-SA 2.0Telford’s library lends 8.7 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Indian Valley Public Library serves 44,309 people in and around Telford. Last year it lent 461K books, movies and e-books and logged 116K visits.
What Telford’s library is like
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 56% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 90% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
Open about 64 hours a week
The Telford branch is open about 64 hours a week, averaged over the year. The building ↓
77% of the people it serves carry a library card
33,965 cards for 44,309 people, or 77%. At the typical library serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, it’s 39%. How it compares ↓
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; Indian Valley Public Library serves 44,309 people in and around Telford, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Telford’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Telford is ahead of 25% of U.S. towns, #715 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Telford is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups comes closest to the middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($68K–$114K) 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 Telford
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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.8%
6.8% of Telford’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 Telford’s residents live; 2022.
About 10 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 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Indian Valley Public Library serves 44,309 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 139 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Indian Valley Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
461K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
75,584 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Indian Valley Public Library, 100 East Church Ave, Telford.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Indian Valley Public Library branch.
New in Telford? 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 $5.52 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Telford cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.2M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6.8M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.2M 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 33,965 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Telford | Indian Valley Public Library | — | 64 | C |
| West Rockhill Township | None of its own | — | — | C |
| Franconia Township | None of its own | — | — | D |
| Hilltown Township | None of its own | — | — | C |
| Souderton | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
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. Indian Valley Public Library serves 44,309 people in and around Telford, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Telford.
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 Telford
Does Telford have a public library?
Yes. Indian Valley Public Library, 100 East Church Ave, serves 44,309 people in and around Telford (the survey’s count) and is open about 64 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Indian Valley Public 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 Telford’s library?
It logged 2.6 visits and lent 10.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Telford’s civic life grade?
C Telford is ahead of 25% of U.S. towns on civic life, #715 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 Telford.
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.