Photo: Nyttend · Public domainPerry Township’s library logs 1.3 visits per resident, against a typical 3 for libraries its size
Perry Cook Memorial Public Library serves 7,906 people in and around Perry Township. Last year it lent 27K books, movies and e-books and logged 10K visits.
What Perry 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 ↓
Few residents carry a card
Only 12% of the people the system serves have a library card, against a typical 42% for its size. How it compares ↓
Kids’ books are most of what goes out
Children’s books and media make up 60% of print loans. Per resident, kids’ borrowing is higher than at 54% of similar-size libraries. 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; Perry Cook Memorial Public Library serves 7,906 people in and around Perry Township, and its numbers cover all of them.
What’s behind Perry Township’s civic life grade
On community nonprofits and volunteering, Perry Township is ahead of 60% of U.S. towns. Perry Township is graded on two of the three inputs. The share of younger adults in volunteering groups holds the grade up; Perry Township’s count of community nonprofits 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 Perry Township
3.4 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 (2 here), since whether a church registers depends on its denomination, not the town.
9.1%
9.1% of Perry 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 Perry Township’s residents live; 2022.
Ahead of most similar-size libraries on 1 of 8 measures
Per resident, against libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people across the U.S.
Perry Cook Memorial Public Library serves 7,906 people, so it’s measured against U.S. libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000.
Every hour the doors are open, about 11 items go out
Fiscal year 2024, for the whole Perry Cook Memorial Public Library system. The library’s own count.
More than half the print loans are kids’ books
27K loans last year: print, kids’ and digital.
4,130 e-books, e-audiobooks and streams last year. Borrow from home with your card, plus research databases: courses, journals, genealogy and more.
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
Perry Cook Memorial Public Library, 7406 County Road 242, Mt. Gilead.
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 Perry Cook Memorial Public Library branch.
New in Perry 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 $1.47 worth
Set what you’d borrow in a month. It starts at what the average Perry Township cardholder borrows.
Typical for a library this size: $43. Operating budget $291K.
Last year the library lent and hosted about $428K worth of books, e-books, programs and Wi-Fi on a $291K 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 919 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perry Township | Perry Cook Memorial Public Library fine-free | — | 47 | B |
| Congress Township | None of its own | — | — | A− |
| Troy Township | None of its own | — | — | B− |
| Franklin Township | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
| Middlebury Township | None of its own | — | — | B+ |
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. Perry Cook Memorial Public Library serves 7,906 people in and around Perry Township, so the yearly numbers cover all of them, not just Perry 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 Perry Township
Does Perry Township have a public library?
Yes. Perry Cook Memorial Public Library, 7406 County Road 242, serves 7,906 people in and around Perry Township (the survey’s count) and is open about 47 hours a week, averaged over the year.
Is Perry Cook Memorial 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 Perry Township’s library?
It logged 1.3 visits and lent 3.5 items per resident in 2024, against a typical 3 visits for libraries serving 2,500 to 10,000 people.
What is Perry Township’s civic life grade?
B Perry Township is ahead of 60% 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 Perry 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.