Photo: Jeangagnon · CC BY-SA 4.0At 7.6 loans per person served, Ottawa public library lends more than 91% of Ontario’s town libraries
The library figures on this page are Ottawa’s: Ottawa public library serves all 1,083,550 people of the city, Lowertown West among them. 3.4 visits per person served came through its doors in 2024. Ontario counts visits over one typical week and multiplies by 52, so the yearly figure is an estimate.
C+Civic life#498 of 866 in OntarioBehind Lowertown West’s civic life grade
Lowertown West gets a C+ for civic life, #498 of 866 towns graded in Ontario. Lowertown West has every input a civic life grade uses: library visits per resident, charities per 1,000 residents and the province’s volunteering rate.
Informal groups and mutual aid go uncounted.
Sources: provincial statistics, the CRA, Statistics Canada.
1,975 registered charities are based in Ottawa, by mailing address
There is no count for Lowertown West on its own: the charities are those of all of Ottawa. It works out to 1.7 per 1,000 residents, where the typical Ontario town has 1.4 and Canada’s 1.4. Counting by mailing address favors a service town, where the surrounding area’s charities get their mail, over the suburbs and countryside around it.
32.1%
Between 31.0% and 33.2% of people in Ontario volunteered formally in 2023, 32.1% at the estimate’s middle; that is one figure for the province, which ranges from 25.2% to 40.3% nationally.
Statistics Canada, table 45-10-0039.
Ahead of most of Ontario’s town libraries on 2 of 3 measures
Per person served, against the 195 town libraries in Ontario’s 2024 statistics.
Town libraries only; regional systems left out.
About 70,779 visits in a typical week
The year 2024 at Ottawa public library, in the library’s own counts.
The nearest library is 0.6 km from Lowertown West
Nearest first, measured in a straight line from the centre of Lowertown West.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Library locations. The locations come from OpenStreetMap and from Statistics Canada’s cultural facilities list of 2020, public libraries only.
Questions about the library and civic life in Lowertown West
Does Lowertown West have a public library?
There isn’t one in Lowertown West; people there use libraries such as Ottawa Public Library - Rideau Branch, in Lowertown East.
How busy is Ottawa public library?
It counted 3,680,508 in-person visits and lent 8,205,895 items in 2024.
Library statistics: Ontario Public Library Statistics, 2024. Library locations: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) and Statistics Canada, Open Database of Cultural and Art Facilities (2020). Charities: Canada Revenue Agency, List of charities (2024), charitable organizations only.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).