Lerch Tavern · Photo: Smallbones · CC0Wernersville’s library logs 1.4 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Wernersville Public Library serves 16,669 people in and around Wernersville. Last year it lent 58K books, movies and e-books and logged 23K visits.
What Wernersville’s library is like
Few residents carry a card
Only 15% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 40% for its size. How it compares ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
26% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 44%. What your card is worth ↓
Runs on less money than most
Wernersville Public Library spends $13 per resident, less than 92% of similar-size libraries (typical: $43). 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; Wernersville Public Library serves 16,669 people in and around Wernersville, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Wernersville’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Wernersville is ahead of 16% of U.S. towns, #884 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Wernersville is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs sit below most U.S. towns; Wernersville’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the middle.
Wernersville Public Library spends $13 per resident, against a typical $43 for libraries its size.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($57K–$95K) 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 →
7 community nonprofits are registered in Wernersville
2.7 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: health.
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 (0 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.9%
5.9% of Wernersville’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 Wernersville’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Wernersville Public Library serves 16,669 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 24 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Wernersville Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
58K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
10,998 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 4 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
Wernersville Public Library, 100 North Reber Street, Wernersville.
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 Wernersville Public Library branch.
New in Wernersville? 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 $4.58 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Wernersville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $215K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $983K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $215K 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 2,554 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wernersville | Wernersville Public Library fine-free | — | 47 | C− |
| Lower Heidelberg Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| South Heidelberg Township | None of its own | — | — | C |
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. Wernersville Public Library serves 16,669 people in and around Wernersville, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Wernersville.
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 Wernersville
Does Wernersville have a public library?
Yes. Wernersville Public Library, 100 North Reber Street, serves 16,669 people in and around Wernersville (the survey’s count) and is open about 47 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Wernersville 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 Wernersville’s library?
It logged 1.4 visits and lent 3.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Wernersville’s civic life grade?
C− Wernersville is ahead of 16% of U.S. towns on civic life, #884 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 Wernersville.
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.