Photo: Finetooth · CC BY-SA 3.0Norwalk’s library lends 6 print items per resident, against a typical 3.9 for libraries its size
Norwalk Public Library serves 18,856 people in and around Norwalk. Last year it lent 167K books, movies and e-books and logged 43K visits.
The short version on Norwalk’s library
Ohio pays a big share
63% of the budget comes from the state, and 13% from local taxes. Nationally, most library money is local. What your card is worth ↓
Big on e-books and audiobooks
Digital borrowing runs 2.8 e-items per resident, against a typical 1.1, higher than at 86% of similar-size libraries. It’s 32% of all loans. What people borrow ↓
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; Norwalk Public Library serves 18,856 people in and around Norwalk, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Norwalk’s civic life grade
On library visits, community nonprofits and volunteering, Norwalk is ahead of 71% of U.S. towns, #324 of 914 in Ohio. Norwalk’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; library visits pull 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 →
124 community nonprofits are registered in Norwalk
7.3 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 (13 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town. 2 more name a national or statewide reach and are left out.
9.4%
9.4% of Norwalk’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 Norwalk’s residents live; 2022.
Almost half the print loans are kids’ books
167K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
53,688 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 5 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people across the U.S.
Norwalk Public Library serves 18,856 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 65 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Norwalk Public Library system. The library’s own count.
About 2 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
Norwalk Public Library, 46 W. Main St., Norwalk.
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 Norwalk Public Library branch.
New in Norwalk? 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 $2.70 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Norwalk cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $946K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $2.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $946K 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 8,005 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norwalk | Norwalk Public Library fine-free | — | 50 | B+ |
| Ridgefield Township | Monroeville Public Library fine-free | — | 40 | A |
| Norwalk Township | None of its own | — | — | C |
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.
- Visits are a typical-week estimate. Norwalk Public Library counted one typical week and multiplied by 52, as the survey allows.
- System-wide. Norwalk Public Library serves 18,856 people in and around Norwalk, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Norwalk.
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 Norwalk
Does Norwalk have a public library?
Yes. Norwalk Public Library, 46 W. Main St., serves 18,856 people in and around Norwalk (the survey’s count) and is open about 50 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Norwalk 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 Norwalk’s library?
It logged 2.3 visits and lent 8.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3.1 visits for libraries serving 10,000 to 25,000 people.
What is Norwalk’s civic life grade?
B+ Norwalk is ahead of 71% of U.S. towns on civic life, #324 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 Norwalk.
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.