Photo: Roland Penttila · CC BY-SA 3.0Ashtabula’s library logs 4.1 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Ashtabula County District Library serves 48,578 people in and around Ashtabula. Last year it lent 252K books, movies and e-books and logged 197K visits.
What stands out about Ashtabula County District Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Ashtabula’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Ashtabula is ahead of 64% of U.S. towns, #408 of 914 in Ohio. Ashtabula is graded on two of the three inputs. Ashtabula’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups 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 →
145 community nonprofits are registered in Ashtabula
8.1 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 (40 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 3 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
6.0%
6.0% of Ashtabula’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 Ashtabula’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Ashtabula County District Library serves 48,578 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 38 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Ashtabula County District Library system. The library’s own count.
Not reported for 2024: funding. The survey fills a missing figure with its own estimate; we leave estimates out rather than show them as the library’s count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
252K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
73,246 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 10 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.
2 places to borrow in Ashtabula
Ashtabula County District Library, 4335 Park Ave, Ashtabula.
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 Ashtabula County District Library branch.
New in Ashtabula? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other Ashtabula County District Library branches in Ashtabula
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.38 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Ashtabula cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.9M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.9M 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 18,673 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashtabula | Ashtabula County District Library fine-free | — | 59 | B |
| Ashtabula Township | Ashtabula County District Library fine-free | — | 59 | — graded with its twin city |
| Edgewood | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Saybrook Township | None of its own | — | — | C |
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: funding. The survey filled the figure with its own estimate, so it is left out.
- System-wide. Ashtabula County District Library serves 48,578 people in and around Ashtabula, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Ashtabula.
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 Ashtabula
Does Ashtabula have a public library?
Yes. Ashtabula County District Library, 4335 Park Ave, serves 48,578 people in and around Ashtabula (the survey’s count) and is open about 59 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Ashtabula County District 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 Ashtabula’s library?
It logged 4.1 visits and lent 5.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Ashtabula’s civic life grade?
B Ashtabula is ahead of 64% of U.S. towns on civic life, #408 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 Ashtabula.
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.