Photo: Nyttend · Public domainLiberty Center’s library runs 241 programs per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34 for libraries its size
Liberty Center Public Library serves 5,551 people in and around Liberty Center. Last year it lent 32K books, movies and e-books and logged 17K visits.
What Liberty Center’s library is like
Seven times the programs of a typical library its size
Liberty Center Public Library ran 1,340 programs last year, about 26 a week. That’s 241 per 1,000 residents, against a typical 34. Kids & programs ↓
Ohio pays a big share
43% of the budget comes from the state, and 42% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
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; Liberty Center Public Library serves 5,551 people in and around Liberty Center, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Liberty Center’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Liberty Center is ahead of 96% of U.S. towns. Liberty Center 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 →
6 community nonprofits are registered in Liberty Center
5.7 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 (1 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
16.7%
16.7% of Liberty Center’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 Liberty Center’s residents live; 2022.
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.
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.
Liberty Center Public Library serves 5,551 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 12 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Liberty Center Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
32K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
5,772 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Find it
Liberty Center Public Library, 124 East St., Liberty Center.
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 Liberty Center Public Library branch.
New in Liberty Center? 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 $1.41 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Liberty Center cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $381K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $537K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $381K 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 1,798 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Liberty Center Public Library serves 5,551 people in and around Liberty Center, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Liberty Center.
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 Liberty Center
Does Liberty Center have a public library?
Yes. Liberty Center Public Library, 124 East St., serves 5,551 people in and around Liberty Center (the survey’s count) and is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Liberty Center 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 Liberty Center’s library?
It logged 3.0 visits and lent 5.8 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Liberty Center’s civic life grade?
A+ Liberty Center is ahead of 96% 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 Liberty Center.
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.