Photo: 636Buster · CC BY-SA 4.0East Liverpool’s library runs 59 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Carnegie Public Library serves East Liverpool’s 9,997 residents. Last year it lent 53K books, movies and e-books and logged 16K visits.
East Liverpool’s library, in brief
More library cards than residents
13,364 cards for 9,997 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 ↓
Ohio pays a big share
72% of the budget comes from the state, and 22% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Programs are almost all for children
90% of the 588 programs last year were for ages 11 and under, including about 8.8 a week for ages 0–5. Kids & programs ↓
The library is a National Register landmark
Carnegie Public Library has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1980. Today’s library there has 20,288 square feet. The building ↓
A big collection for the borrowing it gets
Carnegie Public Library holds 74,000 books and other items, but the average item went out less than once last year. 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.
What’s behind East Liverpool’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, East Liverpool is ahead of 22% of U.S. towns, #804 of 914 in Ohio. East Liverpool’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
East Liverpool’s 2024 visits are an estimate from one typical week (the survey’s method for libraries that don’t count every visit).
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($26K–$43K) score higher, so income alone doesn’t account for it.
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 →
45 community nonprofits are registered in East Liverpool
4.6 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 (10 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
4.9%
4.9% of East Liverpool’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 East Liverpool’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.
Carnegie Public Library serves 9,997 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 26 items go out
Fiscal year 2024. The library’s own count.
41% of borrowing is digital
53K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
Each of the 74K books and other items on the shelves went out about 0.4 time last year, on average.
21,830 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 10 kids’ programs a week
Story times, clubs, classes and events, by who they’re for.
Programs last year by age group
story times and programs a week for ages 0–5, on average.
children’s books and media borrowed per child under 18 in East Liverpool last year.
A National Register landmark since 1980
Carnegie Public Library, 219 E. Fourth St., East Liverpool.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Loans renew on their own if no one’s waiting. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy.
New in East Liverpool? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Carnegie Public Library
Carnegie Public Library was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Mar 11, 1980. It is significant for its architecture at the local level. Its architecture is described as Second Renaissance Revival and Georgian Revival.
The Carnegie Public Library in East Liverpool, Ohio, is a public library located at 219 East Fourth Street. The construction of the library, which opened in 1902, was funded by industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, whose uncle lived in East Liverpool. Along with the Steubenville, Ohio library, it was the first library in Ohio funded by Carnegie.
More about the building →For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.29 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average East Liverpool cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $664K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $859K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $664K 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 13,364 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Liverpool | Carnegie Public Library fine-free | 5.3 | 39 | C− |
| Liverpool Township | None of its own | — | — | C |
| La Croft | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Newell | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Carnegie Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
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 East Liverpool
Does East Liverpool have a public library?
Yes. Carnegie Public Library, 219 E. Fourth St., serves East Liverpool’s 9,997 residents (the survey’s count) and is open about 39 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Carnegie 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 East Liverpool’s library?
It logged 1.6 visits and lent 5.3 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is East Liverpool’s civic life grade?
C− East Liverpool is ahead of 22% of U.S. towns on civic life, #804 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 East Liverpool.
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. Building history: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places; photo via Wikimedia Commons. “What your card is worth” uses typical retail prices and is an estimate, not an official figure.