Photo: Nyttend · Public domainGreenville’s library logs 1.6 visits per resident, against a typical 3.1 for libraries its size
Greenville Public Library serves 21,834 people in and around Greenville. Last year it lent 112K books, movies and e-books and logged 36K visits.
Greenville’s library, in brief
More library cards than residents
33,923 cards for 21,834 people. Cards held by people from outside the service area count too, so the total can pass the population. At the typical library serving 10,000 to 25,000 people, it’s 40%. How it compares ↓
Ohio pays a big share
63% of the budget comes from the state, and 36% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
The branch is a National Register landmark
Carnegie Library and Henry St. Clair Memorial Hall has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1980. Today’s library there has 20,203 square feet. 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; Greenville Public Library serves 21,834 people in and around Greenville, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Greenville’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Greenville is ahead of 72% of U.S. towns, #308 of 914 in Ohio. Greenville is graded on two of the three inputs. Greenville’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 →
134 community nonprofits are registered in Greenville
10.5 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 (30 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.
6.5%
6.5% of Greenville’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 Greenville’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 3 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Greenville Public Library serves 21,834 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 44 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Greenville Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
112K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
33,090 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
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.
A National Register landmark since 1980
Greenville Public Library, 520 Sycamore St., Greenville.
No late fees. E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Greenville Public Library branch.
New in Greenville? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Carnegie Library and Henry St. Clair Memorial Hall
Carnegie Library and Henry St. Clair Memorial Hall was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Nov 26, 1980. It is significant for its architecture and social history at the local level.
The Greenville Carnegie Library is a historic library on the edge of downtown Greenville, Ohio, United States. A Carnegie library built for the community in the early 20th century, the library and an adjacent school building have been designated a historic site because of their landmark architecture.
More about the building →For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $1.57 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Greenville cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $1.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.8M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.1M 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 33,923 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Greenville Public Library serves 21,834 people in and around Greenville, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Greenville.
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 Greenville
Does Greenville have a public library?
Yes. Greenville Public Library, 520 Sycamore St., serves 21,834 people in and around Greenville (the survey’s count) and is open about 49 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Greenville 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 Greenville’s library?
It logged 1.6 visits and lent 5.2 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Greenville’s civic life grade?
B+ Greenville is ahead of 72% of U.S. towns on civic life, #308 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 Greenville.
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.