Photo: Nyttend · Public domainPandora’s library is a branch of Putnam County District Library, which lends more per resident than 64% of systems its size
Pandora’s library is the Pandora-Riley Branch, a branch of Putnam County District Library, which serves 34,378 people and lent 237K items last year.
What stands out about Pandora-Riley Branch
Read from the library’s own yearly report. The page puts what stands out first.
What’s behind Pandora’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Pandora is ahead of 47% of U.S. towns. Pandora is graded on two of the three inputs. Pandora’s count of community nonprofits holds the grade up; the share of younger adults in volunteering groups pulls 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 →
9 community nonprofits are registered in Pandora
5.6 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 (3 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
5.5%
5.5% of Pandora’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 Pandora’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 7 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people across the U.S.
Putnam County District Library serves 34,378 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 21 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Putnam County District Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
237K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
57,576 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
About 11 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
Pandora-Riley Branch, 118 E Main St., Pandora.
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 Putnam County District Library branch.
New in Pandora? 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 $2.37 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Pandora cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $40. Operating budget $1.5M.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $3.6M worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $1.5M 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 8,583 cardholders ÷ 12.
What this data can and can’t tell you
From the Public Libraries Survey, fiscal year 2024.
- System-wide. Pandora-Riley Branch is one branch of Putnam County District Library, so the yearly numbers cover every branch and all 34,378 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 Pandora
Does Pandora have a public library?
Yes: Pandora-Riley Branch, 118 E Main St., is a branch of Putnam County District Library, which serves 34,378 people. The branch is open about 27 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Putnam County District 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 Pandora’s library?
It logged 3.0 visits and lent 6.9 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 2.6 visits for libraries serving 25,000 to 100,000 people.
What is Pandora’s civic life grade?
B− Pandora is ahead of 47% 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 Pandora.
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.