Photo: Wdzinc · CC BY-SA 3.0Bloom Township’s library lends 56 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Wagnalls Memorial Library serves 2,134 people in and around Bloom Township. Last year it lent 139K books, movies and e-books and logged 35K visits.
The short version on Bloom Township’s library
More library cards than residents
7,407 cards for 2,134 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving under 2,500 people, it’s 54%. How it compares ↓
Ohio pays a big share
85% of the budget comes from the state, and 0% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Bloom Township uses its library more than almost any town its size
Wagnalls Memorial Library logs 17 visits per resident, against a typical 3.5 for libraries serving under 2,500 people, and lends 56 print items per resident against a typical 3.9. On both counts it beats 96% of similar-size libraries across the U.S. How it compares ↓
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 61% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 99% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 8.9 e-items per resident, against a typical 1, higher than at 98% of similar-size libraries. It’s 14% 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; in a town this small, one busy program or a few avid readers move the per-resident numbers.
What’s behind Bloom Township’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Bloom Township is ahead of 34% of U.S. towns, #685 of 914 in Ohio. Bloom Township is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Bloom Township’s count of community nonprofits pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($86K–$143K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
29 community nonprofits are registered in Bloom Township
2.7 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 (9 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.8%
7.8% 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.
About 4 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, 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 under 2,500 people across the U.S.
Wagnalls Memorial Library serves 2,134 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving under 2,500.
Every hour the doors are open, about 70 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
139K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 63K books and other items on the shelves went out about 1.9 times last year, on average.
19,095 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Wagnalls Memorial Library, 150 E Columbus St., Lithopolis.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
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 $4.76 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 $435K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.1M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $435K 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 7,407 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 | Wagnalls Memorial Library fine-free | 65.0 | 38 | C |
| Violet Township | Pickerington Public Library fine-free | — | 66 | B |
| Greenfield Township | Northwest Branch fine-free | — | 41 | C |
| Amanda Township | Johns Memorial Branch fine-free | — | 35 | B |
| Madison Township | Canal Winchester Branch Library fine-free | — | 62 | D |
| Madison Township | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
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 count everyone. Bloom Township’s 35,256 visits include people from nearby towns and summer visitors; the survey has no resident share.
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. Wagnalls Memorial Library, 150 E Columbus St., serves 2,134 people in and around Bloom Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 38 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Wagnalls Memorial 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 Bloom Township’s library?
It logged 16.5 visits and lent 65.0 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?
C Bloom Township is ahead of 34% of U.S. towns on civic life, #685 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 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.