Photo: Nyttend · Public domainMarion Township’s library is a branch of Kate Love Simpson-Morgan County Library, which lends more per resident than 50% of systems its size
Marion Township’s library is the Chesterhill Branch Library, a branch of Kate Love Simpson-Morgan County Library, which serves 13,802 people and lent 77K items last year.
What Marion Township’s library is like
Ohio pays a big share
56% of the budget comes from the state, and 33% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Programs lean toward adults
53% of the 343 programs last year were for adults: classes, talks, clubs and events. 150 were for children. Kids & programs ↓
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 Township’s library is a branch of Kate Love Simpson-Morgan County Library, so they cover the whole system (13,802 people), not just the Marion Township branch.
What’s behind Marion Township’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Marion Township is ahead of 80% of U.S. towns. Marion 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 →
4 community nonprofits are registered in Marion Township
4.0 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.
11.4%
11.4% 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.
Every hour the doors are open, about 17 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Kate Love Simpson-Morgan County Library system. The library’s own count.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 6 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Kate Love Simpson-Morgan County Library serves 13,802 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
77K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
23,094 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
Chesterhill Branch Library, 7520 Marion, Chesterhill.
E-books and audiobooks from home. Research databases: courses, journals, genealogy. Good at every Kate Love Simpson-Morgan County 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 $1.80 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: $43. Operating budget $767K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $1.4M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $767K 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 5,731 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 | Chesterhill Branch Library | — | 30 | A− |
| Penn Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Windsor Township | None of its own | — | — | A− |
| Wesley Township | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Homer Township | None of its own | — | — | — graded with its twin city |
| Bern 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. Chesterhill Branch Library is one branch of Kate Love Simpson-Morgan County Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 13,802 people it serves.
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: Chesterhill Branch Library, 7520 Marion, is a branch of Kate Love Simpson-Morgan County Library, which serves 13,802 people. The branch is open about 30 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Kate Love Simpson-Morgan County 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 5.4 visits and lent 5.6 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Marion Township’s civic life grade?
A− Marion 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 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.