Photo: Nyttend · Public domainDarby Township’s library lends 9.4 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Plain City Public Library serves 12,389 people in and around Darby Township. Last year it lent 161K books, movies and e-books and logged 35K visits.
What Darby Township’s library is like
Ohio pays a big share
40% of the budget comes from the state, and 52% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Most programs are for young children
77% of the 233 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 2.4 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3.6 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.1, higher than at 92% of similar-size libraries. It’s 28% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
Kids’ borrowing is a standout
Children’s books and media are 54% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 90% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
A system of heavy borrowers
Plain City Public Library lends 9.4 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, more than 89% of similar-size libraries. 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; Plain City Public Library serves 12,389 people in and around Darby Township, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Darby Township’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Darby Township is ahead of 76% of U.S. towns, #259 of 914 in Ohio. Darby 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 →
20 community nonprofits are registered in Darby Township
4.5 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 (4 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.3%
9.3% of Darby 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 Darby Township’s residents live; 2022.
About 3 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 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Plain City Public Library serves 12,389 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 57 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Plain City Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
161K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
44,354 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Plain City Public Library, 305 W. Main St., Plain City.
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 Plain City Public Library branch.
New in Darby 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 $1.80 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Darby Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.4M 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 7,384 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Darby Township | Plain City Public Library fine-free | — | 54 | A− |
| Washington Township | Dublin Branch Library fine-free | — | 70 | A |
| Canaan Township | None of its own | — | — | A− |
| Jerome Township | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
| Pike Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
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. Plain City Public Library serves 12,389 people in and around Darby Township, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Darby 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 Darby Township
Does Darby Township have a public library?
Yes. Plain City Public Library, 305 W. Main St., serves 12,389 people in and around Darby Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 54 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Plain City 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 Darby Township’s library?
It logged 2.8 visits and lent 13.0 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Darby Township’s civic life grade?
A− Darby Township is ahead of 76% of U.S. towns on civic life, #259 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 Darby 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.