Photo: Nyttend · Public domainChester Township’s library is a branch of Meigs County District Public Library, which lends more per resident than 59% of systems its size
Chester Township’s library is the Eastern Branch, a branch of Meigs County District Public Library, which serves 22,210 people and lent 152K items last year.
What Chester Township’s library is like
More library cards than residents
28,803 cards for 22,210 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 ↓
Ohio pays a big share
61% of the budget comes from the state, and 28% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
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; Chester Township’s library is a branch of Meigs County District Public Library, so they cover the whole system (22,210 people), not just the Chester Township branch.
What’s behind Chester Township’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Chester Township is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns. Chester Township is graded on two of the three inputs. Chester Township’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 →
15 community nonprofits are registered in Chester Township
5.9 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 (6 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
7.3%
7.3% of Chester 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 Chester Township’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Meigs County District Public Library serves 22,210 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 14 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Meigs County District Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
152K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
47,091 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 6 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.
Find it
Eastern Branch, 38850 Sr 7, Reedsville.
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 Meigs County District Public Library branch.
New in Chester 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 $1.99 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Chester Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.3M 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 28,803 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chester Township | Eastern Branch fine-free | — | 48 | B+ |
| Salisbury Township | Meigs County District Public Library fine-free | — | 67 | B− |
| Sutton Township | Racine Branch fine-free | — | 48 | C |
| Bedford Township | None of its own | — | — | B− |
| Orange Township | None of its own | — | — | A |
| Lebanon Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Olive Township | None of its own | — | — | A− |
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.
- System-wide. Eastern Branch is one branch of Meigs County District Public Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 22,210 people it serves.
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 Chester Township
Does Chester Township have a public library?
Yes: Eastern Branch, 38850 Sr 7, is a branch of Meigs County District Public Library, which serves 22,210 people. The branch is open about 48 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Meigs County District Public 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 Chester Township’s library?
It logged 5.7 visits and lent 6.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Chester Township’s civic life grade?
B+ Chester Township is ahead of 70% 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 Chester 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.