Photo: Chris Flook · CC BY-SA 4.0Akron’s library lends 9.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Akron Carnegie Public Library serves 3,072 people in and around Akron. Last year it lent 35K books, movies and e-books and logged 20K visits.
What Akron’s library is like
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 66% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 95% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
A system of heavy borrowers
Akron Carnegie Public Library lends 9.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, more than 90% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Three times the programs of a typical library its size
Akron Carnegie Public Library ran 294 programs last year, about 6 a week. That’s 96 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34. People show up: 6,942 attended. Kids & programs ↓
A well-funded system
Akron Carnegie Public Library spends $100 per resident a year, about twice the typical $43 for a library its size. Almost all of it (85%) comes from local taxes. 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; Akron Carnegie Public Library serves 3,072 people in and around Akron, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Akron’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Akron is ahead of 92% of U.S. towns. Akron is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups 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 →
4 community nonprofits are registered in Akron
4.7 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.
17.4%
17.4% of Akron’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 9.1% in the typical Indiana 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 Akron’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 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Akron Carnegie Public Library serves 3,072 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 14 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Akron Carnegie Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
35K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
5,720 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Akron Carnegie Public Library, 205 East Rochester Street, Akron.
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 Akron Carnegie Public Library branch.
New in Akron? 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 $1.86 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Akron cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $307K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $572K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $307K 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 1,119 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Akron Carnegie Public Library serves 3,072 people in and around Akron, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Akron.
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 Akron
Does Akron have a public library?
Yes. Akron Carnegie Public Library, 205 East Rochester Street, serves 3,072 people in and around Akron (the survey’s count) and is open about 49 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Akron Carnegie 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 Akron’s library?
It logged 6.4 visits and lent 11.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Akron’s civic life grade?
A Akron is ahead of 92% 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 Akron.
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.