Building at 101 North Franklin Street · Photo: Tim Erskine · CC BY-SA 3.0Ashley’s library lends 7.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Wornstaff Memorial Public Library serves 2,148 people in and around Ashley. Last year it lent 17K books, movies and e-books and logged 9,100 visits.
What Ashley’s library is like
Ohio pays a big share
50% of the budget comes from the state, and 31% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 56% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 86% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
Nearly everyone the system serves has a card
1,925 cards for 2,148 people, or 90%. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
A well-funded system
Wornstaff Memorial Public Library spends $124 per resident a year, about twice the typical $54 for a library its size. What your card is worth ↓
Almost all the borrowing is off the shelf
Only 0% of loans are e-books, audiobooks or streaming, fewer per resident than at 99% 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; Wornstaff Memorial Public Library serves 2,148 people in and around Ashley, and its numbers cover all of them; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Ashley’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Ashley is ahead of 88% of U.S. towns. Ashley 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 →
8 community nonprofits are registered in Ashley
4.9 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: youth, sports & recreation.
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 (0 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
11.3%
11.3% of Ashley’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 Ashley’s residents live; 2022.
About 1 kids’ program 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 under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Wornstaff Memorial Public Library serves 2,148 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 7 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Wornstaff Memorial Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
17K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Wornstaff Memorial Public Library, 302 E High St., Ashley.
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 Wornstaff Memorial Public Library branch.
New in Ashley? 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 $1.04 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Ashley cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $265K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $275K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $265K 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 1,925 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashley | Wornstaff Memorial Public Library fine-free | — | 50 | A |
| Oxford Township | None of its own | — | — | A− |
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. Wornstaff Memorial Public Library serves 2,148 people in and around Ashley, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Ashley.
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 Ashley
Does Ashley have a public library?
Yes. Wornstaff Memorial Public Library, 302 E High St., serves 2,148 people in and around Ashley (the survey’s count) and is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Wornstaff Memorial 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 Ashley’s library?
It logged 4.2 visits and lent 7.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Ashley’s civic life grade?
A Ashley is ahead of 88% 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 Ashley.
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.