Photo: Roseohioresident · CC BY-SA 4.0Bowerston’s library runs 121 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Bowerston Public Library serves 3,115 people in and around Bowerston. Last year it lent 13K books, movies and e-books and logged 2,912 visits.
What Bowerston’s library is like
Ohio pays a big share
91% of the budget comes from the state, and 0% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Programs are almost all for children
96% of the 377 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 1.4 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Four times the programs of a typical library its size
Bowerston Public Library ran 377 programs last year, about 7 a week. That’s 121 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34. People show up: 5,299 attended. Kids & programs ↓
Fewer visits than most libraries its size
Bowerston Public Library records 0.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, below 90% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing holds up better, at 3.6 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
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; Bowerston Public Library serves 3,115 people in and around Bowerston, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Bowerston’s civic life grade
Bowerston isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more.
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 →
About 7 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 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Bowerston Public Library serves 3,115 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 7 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Bowerston Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
13K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
2,195 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card.
Find it
Bowerston Public Library, 200 Main St., Bowerston.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Good at every Bowerston Public Library branch.
New in Bowerston? 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 $1.14 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Bowerston cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $221K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $252K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $221K 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 1,003 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Bowerston Public Library serves 3,115 people in and around Bowerston, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Bowerston.
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 Bowerston
Does Bowerston have a public library?
Yes. Bowerston Public Library, 200 Main St., serves 3,115 people in and around Bowerston (the survey’s count) and is open about 38 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Bowerston 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 Bowerston’s library?
It logged 0.9 visits and lent 4.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Bowerston’s civic life grade?
Bowerston isn’t graded on civic life: TownRatings grades towns of 1,000 residents or more. How it works.
Book talk
Reading, story times and the library in Bowerston.
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.