Photo: Sanfranman59 · CC BY-SA 3.0Alliance’s library lends 9.7 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Rodman Public Library serves 35,915 people in and around Alliance from 2 locations. Last year it lent 415K books, movies and e-books and logged 150K visits.
What Alliance’s library is like
Ohio pays a big share
63% of the budget comes from the state, and 30% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Kids’ borrowing is a standout
Children’s books and media are 54% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 91% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
A system of heavy borrowers
Rodman Public Library lends 9.7 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, more than 89% of similar-size libraries. 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; Rodman Public Library serves 35,915 people in and around Alliance, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Alliance’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Alliance is ahead of 74% of U.S. towns, #288 of 914 in Ohio. Alliance is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Alliance’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
114 community nonprofits are registered in Alliance
5.3 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 (33 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 5 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
8.1%
8.1% of Alliance’s Facebook users aged 25–44 belong to a volunteering or activism group, against 8.5% in the typical Ohio 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 Alliance’s residents live; 2022.
About 7 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 all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Rodman Public Library serves 35,915 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 63 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Rodman Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
415K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
66,513 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
2 places to borrow in Alliance
Rodman Public Library, 215 E Broadway, Alliance.
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 Rodman Public Library branch.
New in Alliance? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other Rodman Public Library branches in Alliance
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $2.34 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Alliance cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.7M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6.3M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.7M 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 18,086 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alliance | Rodman Public Library fine-free | — | 52 | B+ |
| Washington Township | None of its own | — | — | C |
| Lexington Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| East Alliance | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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.
- System-wide. Rodman Public Library serves 35,915 people in and around Alliance, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Alliance.
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 Alliance
Does Alliance have a public library?
Yes. Rodman Public Library, 215 E Broadway, serves 35,915 people in and around Alliance (the survey’s count) and is open about 52 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Rodman 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 Alliance’s library?
It logged 4.2 visits and lent 11.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Alliance’s civic life grade?
B+ Alliance is ahead of 74% of U.S. towns on civic life, #288 of 914 in Ohio. 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 Alliance.
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.