Photo: Andre Carrotflower · CC BY-SA 4.0Zelienople’s library runs 46 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 24 for libraries its size
Zelienople Area Public Library serves 12,482 people in and around Zelienople. Last year it lent 53K books, movies and e-books and logged 36K visits.
The short version on Zelienople’s library
Mostly paid for by gifts, not taxes
58% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 22%. What your card is worth ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 64% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 58% 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; Zelienople Area Public Library serves 12,482 people in and around Zelienople, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Zelienople’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Zelienople is ahead of 58% of U.S. towns, #259 of 1,029 in Pennsylvania. Zelienople is graded on two of the three inputs. Zelienople’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 →
42 community nonprofits are registered in Zelienople
11.0 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 (10 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
4.9%
4.9% of Zelienople’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 Zelienople’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Zelienople Area Public Library serves 12,482 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 21 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Zelienople Area Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
53K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
11,796 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
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.
Find it
Zelienople Area Public Library, 227 South High St., Zelienople.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Zelienople Area Public Library branch.
New in Zelienople? 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 $3.47 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Zelienople cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $237K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $820K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $237K 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 3,956 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zelienople | Zelienople Area Public Library | — | 49 | B |
| Jackson Township | None of its own | — | — | D− |
| Harmony | None of its own | — | — | — graded with its twin city |
| Marion 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.
- System-wide. Zelienople Area Public Library serves 12,482 people in and around Zelienople, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Zelienople.
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 Zelienople
Does Zelienople have a public library?
Yes. Zelienople Area Public Library, 227 South High St., serves 12,482 people in and around Zelienople (the survey’s count) and is open about 49 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Zelienople Area 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 Zelienople’s library?
It logged 2.9 visits and lent 4.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Zelienople’s civic life grade?
B Zelienople is ahead of 58% of U.S. towns on civic life, #259 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 Zelienople.
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.