Photo: Tim Evanson from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0Mentor’s library lends 13 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries its size
Mentor Public Library serves 60,770 people in and around Mentor from 3 locations. Last year it lent 1.2M books, movies and e-books and logged 281K visits.
Mentor’s library, in brief
Nearly everyone the system serves has a card
59,375 cards for 60,770 people, or 98%. At the typical library serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, it’s 39%. How it compares ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 6 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.2, higher than at 98% of similar-size libraries. It’s 31% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
A system of heavy borrowers
Mentor Public Library lends 13 print items per resident, against a typical 3.7 for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people, more than 95% of similar-size libraries. What people borrow ↓
Programs draw a crowd
99,000 people came to the system’s 2,036 programs last year: 1.6 per resident, against a typical 0.3, more than at 99% of similar-size libraries. Kids & programs ↓
Ohio pays a big share
34% of the budget comes from the state, and 47% 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; Mentor Public Library serves 60,770 people in and around Mentor, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Mentor’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Mentor is ahead of 58% of U.S. towns, #477 of 914 in Ohio. Mentor is graded on two of the three inputs. Both inputs are above most U.S. towns; Mentor’s count of community nonprofits 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 →
203 community nonprofits are registered in Mentor
4.3 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 (38 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 5 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
7.6%
7.6% of Mentor’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 Mentor’s residents live; 2022.
About 21 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 all 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Mentor Public Library serves 60,770 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 115 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Mentor Public Library system. The library’s own count.
Mostly books and media off the shelf
1.2M loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
365,522 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
3 places to borrow in Mentor
Mentor Public Library, 8215 Mentor Ave., Mentor.
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 Mentor Public Library branch.
New in Mentor? The Handbook →Hours are the survey’s yearly average. Check the library’s own site for today’s hours.
Other Mentor Public Library branches in Mentor
For every $1 it spends, the library lends about $3.76 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Mentor cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $5.1M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $19M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $5.1M 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 59,375 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mentor | Mentor Public Library fine-free | — | 70 | B |
| Willoughby | Willoughby Branch Library fine-free | — | 68 | B− |
| Mentor-on-the-Lake | Mentor on the Lake Branch fine-free | — | 64 | C− |
| Painesville Township | Fairport Harbor Public Library fine-free | — | 50 | — graded with its twin city |
| Painesville | Morley Library fine-free | — | 55 | C |
| Kirtland | Kirtland Public Library fine-free | — | 60 | C |
| Kirtland Hills | None of its own | — | — | — under 1,000 residents |
| Concord Township | None of its own | — | — | C− |
| Grand River | 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. Mentor Public Library serves 60,770 people in and around Mentor, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Mentor.
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 Mentor
Does Mentor have a public library?
Yes. Mentor Public Library, 8215 Mentor Ave., serves 60,770 people in and around Mentor (the survey’s count) and is open about 70 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Mentor 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 Mentor’s library?
It logged 4.6 visits and lent 19.4 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Mentor’s civic life grade?
B Mentor is ahead of 58% of U.S. towns on civic life, #477 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 Mentor.
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.