Photo: Dmsparling · CC BY-SA 4.0Avon Lake’s library lends 13 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Avon Lake Public Library serves 24,824 people in and around Avon Lake. Last year it lent 436K books, movies and e-books and logged 182K visits.
What Avon Lake’s library is like
More library cards than residents
26,376 cards for 24,824 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, it’s 40%. How it compares ↓
One of the busiest library systems its size
Avon Lake Public Library logs 7.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, and lends 13 print items per resident against a typical 3.9. On both counts it beats 91% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
Open about 93 hours a week
The Avon Lake branch is open about 93 hours a week, averaged over the year. The building ↓
Kids’ borrowing is a standout
Children’s books and media are 51% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 95% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 4.7 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.1, higher than at 96% of similar-size libraries. It’s 27% of all loans. 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; Avon Lake Public Library serves 24,824 people in and around Avon Lake, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Avon Lake’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Avon Lake is ahead of 81% of U.S. towns, #187 of 914 in Ohio. Library visits hold the grade up; Avon Lake’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 →
93 community nonprofits are registered in Avon Lake
3.6 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 (12 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
10.2%
10.2% of Avon Lake’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 Avon Lake’s residents live; 2022.
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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Avon Lake Public Library serves 24,824 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 130 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Avon Lake Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
436K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
116,252 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Avon Lake Public Library, 32649 Electric Blvd., Avon Lake.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Avon Lake Public Library branch.
New in Avon Lake? 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 $2.04 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Avon Lake cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $3.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $6.7M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $3.3M 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 26,376 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avon Lake | Avon Lake Public Library | — | 93 | A− |
| Avon | Avon fine-free | — | 62 | B |
| Sheffield Lake | Domonkas fine-free | — | 59 | C |
| Bay Village | Bay Village Branch Library fine-free | — | 66 | A |
| Sheffield | 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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Avon Lake Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
- System-wide. Avon Lake Public Library serves 24,824 people in and around Avon Lake, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Avon Lake.
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 Avon Lake
Does Avon Lake have a public library?
Yes. Avon Lake Public Library, 32649 Electric Blvd., serves 24,824 people in and around Avon Lake (the survey’s count) and is open about 93 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Avon Lake Public 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 Avon Lake’s library?
It logged 7.3 visits and lent 17.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Avon Lake’s civic life grade?
A− Avon Lake is ahead of 81% of U.S. towns on civic life, #187 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 Avon Lake.
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.