Photo: Originally uploaded by Rockero (Transferred by JaumeBG) · Public domainOntario’s library logs 1.4 visits per resident, against a typical 2.1 for libraries its size
Ontario City Library serves 181,224 people in and around Ontario from 2 locations. Last year it lent 447K books, movies and e-books and logged 254K visits.
What Ontario’s library is like
Open about 64 hours a week
The main library is open about 64 hours a week, averaged over the year. Every hour the doors are open, about 77 items go out. The buildings ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 63% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is lower than at 63% of similar-size libraries, so the high share mostly reflects light borrowing by adults. 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.
What’s behind Ontario’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Ontario has fewer per resident than most U.S. towns. Among the 385 U.S. cities over 100,000 we grade, it ranks #373. Ontario is graded on two of the three inputs. Ontario’s count of community nonprofits comes closest to the U.S. middle.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($67K–$111K) 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 →
279 community nonprofits are registered in Ontario
1.6 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (146 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 21 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
2.7%
2.7% of Ontario’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 5.9% in the typical California 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 Ontario’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 100,000+ people across the U.S.
Ontario City Library serves 181,224 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 100,000+.
Every hour the doors are open, about 77 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
447K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 246K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.5 time last year, on average.
83,393 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 7 kids’ programs a week
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.
2 places to borrow in Ontario
Ovitt Family Community Library, 215 East C Street, Ontario.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Ontario? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other libraries in Ontario
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Ontario cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $36. Operating budget $7.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $7.1M 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 108,603 cardholders ÷ 12.
Libraries next door
Ontario ranks 2nd of 3 for borrowing per resident. Tap a town to see its library.
| Town | Library | Loans per resident | Hours | Civic life |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rancho Cucamonga | Paul A. Biane Library fine-free | 3.9 | 44 | D |
| Ontario | Ovitt Family Community Library | 2.5 | 64 | D− |
| Upland | Ovitt Family Community Library | 2.5 | 64 | D |
| Chino | Chino Branch Library | — | 24 | D |
| Eastvale | Eastvale Community Library fine-free | — | 30 | D |
| Fontana | Fontana Lewis Library and Technology Center | — | 48 | D− |
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 Ontario
Does Ontario have a public library?
Yes. Ontario City Library, 215 East C Street, serves 181,224 people in and around Ontario (the survey’s count) and is open about 64 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Ontario City 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 Ontario’s library?
It logged 1.4 visits and lent 2.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.1 visits for libraries serving 100,000+ people.
What is Ontario’s civic life grade?
D− Ontario has fewer community nonprofits per resident, and fewer younger adults in volunteering groups, than most U.S. towns. 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 Ontario.
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.