Main Street Building, United Church of Ovid · Photo: GPWITT · CC BY-SA 3.0Ovid’s library runs 20 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Ovid Public Library serves 5,198 people in and around Ovid. Last year it logged 17K visits.
What stands out about Ovid Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Ovid’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Ovid is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns. Ovid is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Ovid’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
4 community nonprofits are registered in Ovid
2.7 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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
16.0%
16.0% of Ovid’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 12.4% in the typical Michigan 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 Ovid’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 6 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Ovid Public Library serves 5,198 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
A year at Ovid Public Library
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Ovid Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Not reported for 2024: print loans and books & media on the shelves. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.
106 programs a year
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
Ovid Public Library, 206 North Main Street, Ovid.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Ovid Public Library branch.
New in Ovid? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
What a library card is worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Ovid cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $137K.
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 4,791 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ovid | Ovid Public Library fine-free | — | 33 | B+ |
| Ovid Township | None of its own | — | — | B |
| Middlebury Township | None of its own | — | — | B |
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.
- Not reported for 2024: print loans and books & media on the shelves. The survey filled the figure with its own estimate, so it is left out.
- System-wide. Ovid Public Library serves 5,198 people in and around Ovid, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Ovid.
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 Ovid
Does Ovid have a public library?
Yes. Ovid Public Library, 206 North Main Street, serves 5,198 people in and around Ovid (the survey’s count) and is open about 33 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Ovid 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 Ovid’s library?
It logged 3.3 visits per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Ovid’s civic life grade?
B+ Ovid is ahead of 70% 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 Ovid.
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.