Heckler Farmhouse · Photo: Nyttend · Public domainCrestline’s library lends 5.9 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Crestline Public Library serves 8,318 people in and around Crestline. Last year it lent 54K books, movies and e-books and logged 22K visits.
Crestline’s library, in brief
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 ↓
More library cards than residents
9,741 cards for 8,318 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, it’s 42%. How it compares ↓
Programs are almost all for children
87% of the 410 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 1.1 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
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; Crestline Public Library serves 8,318 people in and around Crestline, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Crestline’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Crestline is ahead of 67% of U.S. towns, #375 of 914 in Ohio. Crestline is graded on two of the three inputs. Crestline’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 →
30 community nonprofits are registered in Crestline
6.8 per 1,000 residents, against a U.S. town median of 3.7. The largest group: human services.
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 (8 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
6.7%
6.7% of Crestline’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 Crestline’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Crestline Public Library serves 8,318 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 12 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Crestline Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
54K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
5,216 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
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.
Find it
Crestline Public Library, 324 N. Thoman St., Crestline.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Crestline Public Library branch.
New in Crestline? 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 $1.72 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Crestline cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $550K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $945K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $550K 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 9,741 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Galion | Galion Public Library Association fine-free | 10.8 | 56 | B+ |
| Crestline | Crestline Public Library | — | 59 | B+ |
| Jackson Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Jefferson Township | None of its own | — | — | D |
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. Crestline Public Library serves 8,318 people in and around Crestline, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Crestline.
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 Crestline
Does Crestline have a public library?
Yes. Crestline Public Library, 324 N. Thoman St., serves 8,318 people in and around Crestline (the survey’s count) and is open about 59 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Crestline 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 Crestline’s library?
It logged 2.7 visits and lent 6.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Crestline’s civic life grade?
B+ Crestline is ahead of 67% of U.S. towns on civic life, #375 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 Crestline.
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.