Photo: Adam Moss · CC BY-SA 2.0Ransomville’s library lends 13 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Ransomville Free Library serves Ransomville’s 1,316 residents. Last year it lent 20K books, movies and e-books and logged 10K visits.
The short version on Ransomville’s library
More library cards than residents
1,440 cards for 1,316 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
Ransomville is a town of borrowers
Ransomville Free Library lends 13 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries serving under 2,500 people, more than 93% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
30% of the library’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 60%. What your card is worth ↓
Kids borrow more here than almost anywhere
Children’s books and media are 32% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 85% of similar-size libraries. That works out to about 15 items per child in Ransomville last year. Kids & programs ↓
Programs lean toward adults
53% of the 129 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 61 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Ransomville’s civic life grade
Ransomville isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
Mostly books and media off the shelf
20K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 40K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
1,843 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Ransomville Free Library serves 1,316 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 12 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
About 1 kids’ program 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.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in Ransomville last year.
Find it
Ransomville Free Library, 3733 Ransomville Road, Ransomville.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in Ransomville? 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 $2.28 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Ransomville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $138K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $316K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $138K 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 1,440 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.
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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Ransomville Free Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 Ransomville
Does Ransomville have a public library?
Yes. Ransomville Free Library, 3733 Ransomville Road, serves Ransomville’s 1,316 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 31 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Ransomville 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 Ransomville’s library?
It logged 7.6 visits and lent 14.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Ransomville’s civic life grade?
Ransomville isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Ransomville.
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.