Photo: User:OHWiki · Public domainFremont’s library lends 6.5 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Birchard Public Library of Sandusky County serves 41,427 people in and around Fremont. Last year it lent 364K books, movies and e-books and logged 85K visits.
Fremont’s library, in brief
Gifts and endowments pay a real share
27% of the system’s income comes from gifts, endowments, fees and other sources, not taxes. Local taxes cover 26%. What your card is worth ↓
Open about 67 hours a week
The Fremont branch is open about 67 hours a week, averaged over the year. The building ↓
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; Birchard Public Library of Sandusky County serves 41,427 people in and around Fremont, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Fremont’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Fremont is ahead of 80% of U.S. towns, #212 of 914 in Ohio. Fremont is graded on two of the three inputs. Fremont’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 →
130 community nonprofits are registered in Fremont
8.2 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 (34 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 1 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.5%
7.5% of Fremont’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 Fremont’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Birchard Public Library of Sandusky County serves 41,427 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 38 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Birchard Public Library of Sandusky County system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
364K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
94,377 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, 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
Birchard Public Library of Sandusky County, 423 Croghan St., Fremont.
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 Birchard Public Library of Sandusky County branch.
New in Fremont? 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 $2.53 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Fremont cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.3M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $5.8M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.3M 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 14,644 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fremont | Birchard Public Library of Sandusky County fine-free | — | 67 | A− |
| Sandusky Township | None of its own | — | — | D |
| Ballville Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Stony Prairie | None of its own | — | — | — unincorporated |
| Ballville | 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.
- System-wide. Birchard Public Library of Sandusky County serves 41,427 people in and around Fremont, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Fremont.
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 Fremont
Does Fremont have a public library?
Yes. Birchard Public Library of Sandusky County, 423 Croghan St., serves 41,427 people in and around Fremont (the survey’s count) and is open about 67 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Birchard Public Library of Sandusky County 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 Fremont’s library?
It logged 2.1 visits and lent 8.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Fremont’s civic life grade?
A− Fremont is ahead of 80% of U.S. towns on civic life, #212 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 Fremont.
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.