Photo: Nyttend · Public domainGibson Township’s library lends 9.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries its size
Fort Recovery Public Library serves 4,113 people in and around Gibson Township. Last year it lent 53K books, movies and e-books and logged 17K visits.
What Gibson Township’s library is like
Ohio pays a big share
87% of the budget comes from the state, and 0% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
More than half the print loans are for kids
Children’s books and media are 62% of print loans, and kids’ borrowing per resident is higher than at 95% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
A system of heavy borrowers
Fort Recovery Public Library lends 9.6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.8 for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people, more than 90% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 3.1 e-items per resident, against a typical 1, higher than at 90% of similar-size libraries. It’s 25% of all loans. 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; Fort Recovery Public Library serves 4,113 people in and around Gibson Township, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Gibson Township’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Gibson Township is ahead of 80% of U.S. towns. Gibson 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 →
11 community nonprofits are registered in Gibson Township
5.0 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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.2%
9.2% of Gibson 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 Gibson Township’s residents live; 2022.
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.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Fort Recovery Public Library serves 4,113 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 28 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Fort Recovery Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
53K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
12,938 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Fort Recovery Public Library, 113 N. Wayne St., Fort Recovery.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Fort Recovery Public Library branch.
New in Gibson 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 $4.48 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Gibson Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $175K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $782K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $175K 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 2,240 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gibson Township | Fort Recovery Public Library | — | 37 | A− |
| Fort Recovery | Fort Recovery Public Library | — | 37 | A− |
| Granville Township | St. Henry Branch Library fine-free | — | 35 | A |
| Recovery Township | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
| Mississinawa Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Madison 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. Fort Recovery Public Library serves 4,113 people in and around Gibson Township, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Gibson 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 Gibson Township
Does Gibson Township have a public library?
Yes. Fort Recovery Public Library, 113 N. Wayne St., serves 4,113 people in and around Gibson Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 37 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Fort Recovery 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 Gibson Township’s library?
It logged 4.2 visits and lent 12.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Gibson Township’s civic life grade?
A− Gibson Township is ahead of 80% 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 Gibson 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.