Photo: Nyttend · Public domainChester Township’s library logs 0.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Selover Public Library serves 10,427 people in and around Chester Township. Last year it lent 44K books, movies and e-books and logged 9,672 visits.
What Chester Township’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 ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 65% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 58% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Fewer visits than most libraries its size
Selover Public Library records 0.9 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, below 91% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing holds up better, at 3.3 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; Selover Public Library serves 10,427 people in and around Chester Township, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Chester Township’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Chester Township is ahead of 84% of U.S. towns. Chester Township is graded on two of the three inputs. Both 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 →
9 community nonprofits are registered in Chester Township
5.0 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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.9%
9.9% 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 4 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Selover Public Library serves 10,427 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 22 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Selover Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
44K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
9,463 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 2 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
Selover Public Library, 31 State Route 95, Chesterville.
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 Selover 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 $1.93 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 $349K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $675K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $349K 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 4,432 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 | Selover Public Library fine-free | — | 39 | A− |
| Wayne Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Harmony Township | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
| Franklin Township | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
| South Bloomfield 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. Selover Public Library serves 10,427 people in and around Chester Township, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Chester 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 Chester Township
Does Chester Township have a public library?
Yes. Selover Public Library, 31 State Route 95, serves 10,427 people in and around Chester Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 39 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Selover 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 0.9 visits and lent 4.2 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?
A− Chester Township is ahead of 84% 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.