Photo: Nyttend · Public domainBloom Township’s library logs 5.6 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries its size
Bliss Memorial Public Library serves 1,607 people in and around Bloom Township. Last year it lent 11K books, movies and e-books and logged 8,996 visits.
What stands out about Bliss Memorial Public Library
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Bloom Township’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Bloom Township is ahead of 89% of U.S. towns. All three 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 →
7 community nonprofits are registered in Bloom Township
4.8 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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
12.6%
12.6% of Bloom Township’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 Bloom Township’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Bliss Memorial Public Library serves 1,607 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 6 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Bliss Memorial Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
11K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
1,317 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
54 programs a year
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.
Find it
Bliss Memorial Public Library, 20 S. Marion St., Bloomville.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Good at every Bliss Memorial Public Library branch.
New in Bloom Township? 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 $1.21 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Bloom Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $54. Operating budget $149K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $181K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $149K 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 430 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bloom Township | Bliss Memorial Public Library fine-free | — | 34 | A |
| Venice Township | Seneca East Public Library fine-free | — | 60 | A+ |
| Eden Township | None of its own | — | — | C |
| Scipio Township | None of its own | — | — | A− |
| Lykens Township | 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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Bliss Memorial Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
- System-wide. Bliss Memorial Public Library serves 1,607 people in and around Bloom Township, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Bloom Township.
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 Bloom Township
Does Bloom Township have a public library?
Yes. Bliss Memorial Public Library, 20 S. Marion St., serves 1,607 people in and around Bloom Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 34 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Bliss Memorial Public Library fine-free? Does it lend e-books?
Yes to both: no late fees, and e-books, audiobooks with a card (the library’s 2024 survey report).
How busy is Bloom Township’s library?
It logged 5.6 visits and lent 6.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.5 visits for libraries serving under 2,500 people.
What is Bloom Township’s civic life grade?
A Bloom Township is ahead of 89% 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 Bloom Township.
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.