Photo: Jon Roanhaus · CC BY-SA 3.0Gettysburg’s library lends 6.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Potter County Free Library serves 2,413 people in and around Gettysburg. Last year it lent 22K books, movies and e-books and logged 8,684 visits.
What stands out about Potter County Free Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Gettysburg’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Gettysburg is ahead of 94% of U.S. towns. Gettysburg is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Gettysburg’s count of community nonprofits ranks highest.
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 →
22 community nonprofits are registered in Gettysburg
17.5 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. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
9.3%
9.3% of Gettysburg’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 6.9% in the typical South Dakota 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 Gettysburg’s residents live; 2022.
About 2 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 all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Potter County Free Library serves 2,413 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 11 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Potter County Free Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
22K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
6,162 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Potter County Free Library, 205 W Commercial Ave, Suite 103, Gettysburg.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Potter County Free Library branch.
New in Gettysburg? 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 $2.07 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Gettysburg cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $171K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $355K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $171K 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 1,371 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Potter County Free Library serves 2,413 people in and around Gettysburg, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Gettysburg.
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 Gettysburg
Does Gettysburg have a public library?
Yes. Potter County Free Library, 205 W Commercial Ave, Suite 103, serves 2,413 people in and around Gettysburg (the survey’s count) and is open about 37 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Potter County Free 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 Gettysburg’s library?
It logged 3.6 visits and lent 9.1 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Gettysburg’s civic life grade?
A Gettysburg is ahead of 94% 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 Gettysburg.
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.