Photo: User:OHWiki · CC BY-SA 2.5Marion Township’s library logs 1.1 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries its size
Marion Public Library serves 64,852 people in and around Marion Township. Last year it lent 222K books, movies and e-books and logged 70K visits.
What Marion 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 ↓
42% of borrowing happens on a screen
E-books, e-audiobooks and streaming make up 42% of loans. Print still makes up 58%, much of it kids’ books. What people borrow ↓
Fewer visits than most libraries its size
Marion Public Library records 1.1 visits per resident, against a typical 2.6 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, below 88% of similar-size libraries. Borrowing holds up better, at 2 print items per resident. How it compares ↓
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; Marion Public Library serves 64,852 people in and around Marion Township, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Marion Township’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Marion Township is ahead of 38% of U.S. towns, #643 of 914 in Ohio. Marion Township is graded on two of the three inputs. Marion Township’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls it down.
Most U.S. towns with similar household incomes ($37K–$62K) 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 →
199 community nonprofits are registered in Marion Township
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 (64 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 4 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
5.7%
5.7% of Marion 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 Marion Township’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 2 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Marion Public Library serves 64,852 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 84 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Marion Public Library system. The library’s own count.
42% of borrowing is digital
222K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
92,464 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.
Find it
Marion Public Library, 445 E. Church St., Marion.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Marion Public Library branch.
New in Marion 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 $1.25 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Marion Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $2.7M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $2.7M 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 17,068 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marion Township | Marion Public Library | — | 51 | C+ |
| Grand Prairie Township | None of its own | — | — | D |
| Big Island Township | None of its own | — | — | D− |
| Claridon Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Pleasant Township | None of its own | — | — | D |
| Green Camp Township | None of its own | — | — | D |
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. Marion Public Library serves 64,852 people in and around Marion Township, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Marion 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 Marion Township
Does Marion Township have a public library?
Yes. Marion Public Library, 445 E. Church St., serves 64,852 people in and around Marion Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 51 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Marion 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 Marion Township’s library?
It logged 1.1 visits and lent 3.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Marion Township’s civic life grade?
C+ Marion Township is ahead of 38% of U.S. towns on civic life, #643 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 Marion 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.